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JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 


OTHER  BOOKS 

BY 

GEORGE  BIRD  GRINNELL, 


JACK,   THE  YOUNG   RANCHMAN,  PRICE  ^1.25 

PAWNEE    HERO    STORIES    AND    FOLK   TALES,  .  "            I.75 

BLACKFOOT    LODGE    TALES,      .                 .                 .  .  "            1-75 

THE   STORY    OF   THE   INDIAN,                   ,                .  ,  "            I.50 

THE   INDIANS    OF   TO-DAY,        .                .                .  .  "           5.OO 


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JACK 
AMONG  THE  INDIANS 

OR 

A  BOY'S  SUMMER  ON  THE  BUFFALO  PLAINS 


BY 

GEORGE  BIRD  GRINNELL 

Author  of  ^^  Jack,  the  Young  Ranchman,^^  "  Pawnee  Hero  Stories ^^ 

''  Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales,''    "  The  Story  of  the  Indian,'' 

"  The  Indians  of  To-day,'^   etc. 

Illustrated  by 
EDWIN  WILLARD  DEMING 


» 


NEW   YORK 

FREDERICK   A.   STOKES   COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  IQOO, 
By  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company 


•  •     *    »; 


My  Dear  Nephews  and  Nieces  : — 

A  long  time  ago,  before  any  of  you  were  born, 
great  herds  of  buffalo  fed  on  the  western  plains,  and 
wild  Indians  lived  by  hunting  them.  They  ate  the 
flesh,  wore  the  skins  as  clothing,  slept  in  lodges  made 
from  the  hides,  and  fashioned  tools  from  different 
parts  of  the  buffalo's  body. 

There  were  few  settlements,  and  as  the  buffalo 
roamed  far  and  wide  over  the  treeless  land,  the  Indians 
followed  them ;  for  then  both  were  free.  Often  a 
tribe  was  obliged  to  defend  itself  against  the  attacks  of 
enemies  ;  and  its  young  men  often  made  war  journeys 
into  hostile  country.  Though  the  daily  life  of  the 
village  was  quiet  and  simple,  yet  sometimes  it  was 
interrupted  by  most  exciting  incidents  and  adventures 
both  of  hunting  and  fighting. 

You  listened  attentively  to  the  story  of  ''Jack,  the 
Young  Ranchman,"  and  I  hope  that  you  will  like  to 
learn  what  Jack  did  the  next  season,  when  he  spent 
the  summer  with  the  buffalo  eaters  of  the  Northern 
Plains,  hunted  their  game,  fought  their  enemies  and 
lived  their  life. 

Your  affectionate 

Uncle. 

New  York,  Seff.  i,  1900. 


M13731 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER. 

I.  Back  to  the  Ranch 

II.  A  Glance  Backward  . 

III.  Getting  Ready 

IV.  The  Start 
V.  The  First  Fresh  Meat 

VI.  Indians  of  Old  Times  . 

VII.  An  Indian  War  Party, 

VIII.  Dodging  Indians 

IX.  A  Bighorn  in  Camp 

X.  Buffalo 

XI.  In  the  Quicksands 

XII.  Resting  Up     .        •        • 

XIII.  To  Fort  Benton  and  Beyond 

XIV.  The  Piegan  Camp  . 
XV.  Indians  at  Home    . 

XVI.  An  Indian  Friend. 

XVII.  An  Enemy  in  Camp. 

XVIII.  The  Counting  of  a  Coup 

XIX.  A  Strong  Temptation  . 

XX.  White  Warrior,  Piegan 

XXI.  The  Camp  Moves    . 

XXII.  Running  Buffalo  . 

XXIII.  The  Wounding  of  Fox  Eye 

XXIV.  A  Mystery  of  the  Prairie 
XXV.  The  Relic  of  a  Fight  . 

XXVI.    Close  Quarters  with  a  Bear 
XXVII.    Baptiste  Lajeunesse     . 
XXVIII.    The  Lost  Gold 


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133 
145 
154 
168 
179 

187 
198 
211 

224 

237 

252 

265 

273 
286 

293 


Jack  Among  the  Indians, 


CHAPTER  I.  .      -'     :' 

BACK  TO  THE   RANCH. 

The  train  rushed  down  the  hill,  with  a  long  shriek- 
ing whistle,  and  then  began  to  go  more  and  more 
slowly.  Thomas  had  brushed  Jack  off  and  thanked 
him  for  the  coin  that  he  put  in  his  hand,  and  with  the 
bag  in  one  hand  and  the  stool  in  the  other  now  went 
out  onto  the  platform  and  down  the  steps,  Jack 
closely  following.  The  train  had  almost  stopped,  and 
Jack  bent  forward  over  the  porter's  head  to  try  to  see 
the  platform  and  to  learn  who  was  there  to  meet  him. 
Suddenly  he  caught  sight  of  three  horses  grazing  not 
far  from  the  station,  and  he  shouted,  "  Oh,  there's 
Pawnee !  Look,  Thomas  !  that's  my  riding-horse  ; 
that  brown  with  the  saddle  on." 

''That's  yours,  is  it.  Master  Jack?  He's  a  good 
one  ;  I  can  see  that  from  here.  Are  you  going  to  ride 
out  to  the  ranch  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Jack,  "  but  we  must  be,  I 
guess."  And  then,  as  he  jumped  down  off  the  step 
and  saw  Hugh  walking  toward  him,  he  shouted, 
''  Hello,  Hugh  !     I'm  glad  you've  come  for  me.     Isn't 


2  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

this   bully?     Good-bye,  Thomas."     And,   taking    his 
bag,  he  started  running  to  meet  Hugh. 

"  Well,"  said  the  old  man,  as  he  gave  him  a  cordial 
hand  clasp,  "  I  am  sure  glad  to  see  you,  son.  You 
got  here  all  right,  and  on  time.  Didn't  have  no  acci- 
dents, I  expect?  " 

"  No,"  said  Jack,  *'  I'm  all  right.  Isn't  it  great  to 
be  here  again.  I  don't  know  when  I've  been  so  glad 
before.  iVe  been  thinking  about  this  time  ever  since 
I  left  here  last  fall." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "we're  all  right  glad  to  have 
you  come  back  again.  I  don't  expect  you've  got  any 
baggage  except  this,  and  there  ain't  nothing  to  wait 
for  ;  we  might  go  over  and  put  the  bag  on  the  pack- 
horse,  and  start.  I've  been  here  ever  since  last  night, 
and  I've  had  enough  of  this  town." 

"  We're  going  to  ride  then,  are  we  ?  That's  better 
fun  than  going  in  the  wagon.  I  thought  when  I  saw 
Pawnee  that  maybe  that  was  the  way  you'd  fixed  it." 
''Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  expect  you  ain't  done  much 
riding  since  you  left  here,  and  we've  got  a  long  way  to 
go,  and  I  thought  maybe  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to 
begin  breaking  you  in  to  the  saddle  right  off.  How 
does  it  suit  you?  " 

*'  Splendid,"  said  Jack.  "  We  can  make  better  time 
on  horseback  than  we  could  in  the  wagon,  and  I'm 
mighty  anxious  to  get  to  the  ranch  and  see  everybody 
again.     How's  the  elk  ?  " 

"  He's  all  right ;  fat,  and  just  about  half  shed  off ;  he 
looks  kind  o'  ragged,  but  before  long,  when  his  old 
coat's  gone,  he'll  be  smooth  as  silk  and  pretty  as  a  pic- 
ture." 


BACK  TO  THE  RANCH.  3 

"  That's  good,  and  how  are  the  ducks?  ** 

"They're  all  right,  too,"  said  Hugh,  ''barring  a 
couple  that  got  killed  only  a  few  days  ago.  I  don't 
rightly  know  what  'twas  that  killed  'em,  but  I  reckon 
'twas  a  bob-cat.  I  seen  the  tracks  of  one  in  the  brush 
the  last  snow  we  had,  and  a  few  days  afterward  one  ot 
your  ducks  disappeared  one  day  while  they  was  out 
down  to  the  brook,  and  two  days  afterward  the  old 
black  tom-cat  was  gone,  and  two  or  three  days  after- 
ward another  duck.  I  never  did  see  anything  of  the 
ducks,  but  I  found  the  bones  of  the  old  tom-cat  up  in 
the  brush  a  little  while  afterward,  and  there  was  a  lot 
of  fur  in  his  claws,  and  it  was  bob-cat  hair.  Since 
that  second  duck  got  taken  I  haven't  let  them  birds 
out  except  when  I  was  there  to  watch  'em,  and  keep 
my  eye  on  'em  all  the  time." 

"  I'm  sorry  those  ducks  got  killed,"  said  Jack,  "  I 
was  in  hopes  they'd  breed  this  year,  and  we'd  have  a 
lot  of  young  ones." 

'^Well,  maybe  they  will,  but  they've  got  to  be 
watched,  or  else  they've  got  to  have  some  sort  of  a 
pen  built  for  *em,  because  you  see,  they  can't  fly,  and 
it's  mighty  easy  for  anything  to  catch  'em." 

By  this  time  they  were  close  to  the  horses,  and  Jack 
ran  up  to  Pawnee  and  began  to  talk  to  him  and  pat 
him.  The  horse  put  his  ears  forward  and  arched  his 
neck  over  Jack's  shoulder,  rubbing  his  head  against 
him,  as  if  he  really  knew  who  it  was  and  was  glad  to 
see  the  boy  back  again.  Meantime,  Hugh  was  gather- 
ing up  the  ropes,  and  coiling  them  and  putting  them 
on  the  saddles.  He  bridled  his  own  horse,  and  Jack 
did    the  same  for    Pawnee,  both  throwing  down  the 


4  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

reins ;  then  the  cinches  of  the  pack  saddle  were  tight- 
ened, and  the  bag  quickly  lashed  in  place. 

"  You  better  put  your  gun  in  your  scabbard,  son, 
and  put  some  cartridges  in  your  pocket ;  might  be 
such  a  thing  as  you'd  see  something  you'd  want  to 
shoot."  Jack  did  so,  and  then  they  mounted  and 
started  off  at  a  good  lope  over  the  prairie.  Jack's 
heart  was  swelling  with  delight  as  he  felt  the  cool  wind 
on  his  face,  and  smelt  again  the  odour  of  the  sage,  and 
saw  the  familiar  birds  rising  from  the  ground  and  fly- 
ing ahead,  and  alighting  again  in  the  road  before 
them. 

''  1  saw  quite  a  lot  of  antelope  from  the  train  as  we 
came  along  this  morning,  Hugh,"  he  said.  "  I  suppose 
there  are  plenty  of  *em  out  at  the  ranch." 

"  Oh,  yes,  there's  plenty  of  antelope.  That  bunch 
that  used  to  live  over  in  the  pasture  have  just  come 
back,  and  will  be  there  all  summer,  I  expect.'* 

"Have  you  killed  much  game  this  winter?"  said 

Jack. 

"Well,  no,*'  was  the  reply,  **  not  what  you'd  call 
much.  We've  had  fresh  meat  right  along,  elk  and  black- 
tail  and  antelope.  Early  in  the  winter,  just  before  we 
had  that  big  storm,  I  went  over  to  Point-of-rocks  and 
killed  three  sheep ;  that's  about  the  only  thing  out  of 
ordinary  that's  been  done." 

"  Three  sheep  !  I  wish  I  could  get  a  chance  to  kill 
one.  I've  never  even  seen  a  sheep,  and  I  want  to  get 
a  shot  at  one  most  awfully." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "likely  while  we're  up  north 
we'll  get  a  chance  to;  there's  plenty  of  sheep  in  the 
Missouri  River  bad  lands,  and  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Yel- 


BACK  TO  THE  RANCH.  5 

lowstone,  and  of  course  in  the  mountains.  The  Pie- 
gans,  you  know,  don't  go  much  into  the  mountains, 
but  they  kill  quite  some  sheep  in  the  bad  lands,  and 
on  some  of  the  buttes.  Now,  the  Sweet  Grass  Hills 
are  a  great  place  for  sheep  ;  we're  likely  after  we  get 
to  the  Piegans  to  camp  close  to  them,  and  maybe  we 
can  make  a  hunt  up  there  for  two  or  three  days.  I 
ain't  a  mite  afeared  but  what  you'll  have  chances  at 
sheep  before  summer's  over." 

''  Gracious !  buffalo  and  sheep !  That  would  be 
enough  hunting  for  one  summer,  I  should  think. 
You're  sure  that  when  we  go  north  we'll  have  plenty 
of  buffalo  hunting  ?  " 

**  Lord,  yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  there'll  be  buffalo  a  plenty 
long  after  you  and  I  are  both  dead." 

By  this  time  they  had  passed  through  the  breaks 
and  crossed  the  river,  and  come  up  over  the  hill,  so 
that  they  could  see  the  great  lone  mountain,  where 
the  road  turned  off  to  the  right.  ''  Oh,  there's  Bent 
Rock  Mountain  !  that  looks  good,  don't  it,  with  the 
gray  rocks  and  the  black  cedars  scattered  all  over  it. 
Now,  there  are  sheep  there,  Hugh  ;  don't  you  ever 
hunt  there?" 

"  No,"  said  Hugh  ;  "  there's  a  little  bunch  of  sheep 
there,  but  they're  mighty  hard  to  get  at,  and  I  don't 
bother  with  'em." 

They  rode  on  down  the  hill  at  a  swinging  canter, 
splashed  through  the  stream,  turned  to  the  right  and 
went  up  by  the  mountain,  past  the  place  where  about 
a  year  before  Jack  had  seen  his  first  grizzly,  and  then 
turning  to  the  left,  galloped  along  across  the  undulat- 
ing  sage-brush  prairie.     The  pack  horse  all  the  time 


6  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

was  following  close  at  their  heels  ;  his  load  was  light  and 
he  knew  that  he  was  going  home,  and  required  no 
driving. 

Suddenly,  as  they  rode  over  the  crest  of  one  of  the 
prairie  swells,  which  gave  a  little  wider  view  than  most 
of  them,  Jack  saw  quite  close  to  them  a  cow  running 
hard,  with  head  down  and  tongue  out,  and  right  at  her 
heels  a  big  wolf,  and  a  little  behind  that,  another. 
Just  as  they  came  in  sight,  the  leading  wolf  sprang 
forward  and  caught  the  cow  by  the  flank,  and  though 
it  seemed  impossible  that  so  small  an  animal  should 
throw  one  so  large,  the  cow  fell  prone  upon  the  prairie. 
While  all  this  was  passing  before  Jack's  eyes,  Hugh's 
horse  stopped,  his  rider  swung  out  of  the  saddle,  his 
gun  came  to  his  shoulder,  and  as  the  smoke  leaped 
from  it,  the  second  wolf  fell.  Jack  had  not  been  long 
enough  on  the  prairie  to  act  quite  as  quickly  as  Hugh  ; 
it  took  him  a  second  or  two  to  drag  his  gun  from  its 
scabbard  and  to  spring  from  his  horse,  but  the  wolf 
that  had  pulled  down  the  cow  had  not  run  more  than 
a  few  yards  before  he  fired  at  it ;  it  gave  a  dismal  howl, 
but  still  kept  on  ;  he  shot  again,  and  again  the  wolf 
yelled,  but  still  it  ran.  It  was  almost  on  top  of  the 
hill  now,  when  Hugh  fired,  and  it  disappeared.  They 
jumped  into  their  saddles  and  rode  to  the  place,  and 
found  the  wolf  just  kicking  in  the  death  struggle. 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''that's  a  good  job,  anyhow. 
There's  been  a  heap  o'  wolves  round  this  winter,  and 
I'm  glad  we  got  these  two.  I  wish  we'd  come  a  min- 
ute earlier,  so's  to  have  saved  that  cow." 

"  Do  you  think  she's  dead,  Hugh  ?  "  said  Jack. 

"  I  expect  so,"  said  Hugh.     "  I've  seen    a   heap    o* 


BACK  TO  THE  RANCH.  7 

cattle  killed  by  just  one  bite  from  a  wolf ;  often  it 
didn't  seem  if  'twas  a  bad  bite  either.  I've  sometimes 
thought  that  maybe  they  was  just  scared  to  death.  I 
expect,  though,  we'll  find  that  cow  dead."  By  this  time 
the  wolf  had  ceased  to  struggle,  and  Hugh,  picking  it 
up,  threw  it  across  his  saddle,  and  they  walked  back  to 
the  cow  and  the  other  wolf,  which  lay  within  three  feet 
of  each  other.  As  Hugh  had  thought,  the  cow  was  dead, 
though  the  wound  in  her  flank  did  not  seem  to  be  a 
severe  one.  Evidently  she  had  been  chased  for  some 
distance,  for  on  her  neck  and  shoulders  there  was  froth 
from  the  mouth,  showing  that  she  had  run  a  long  way. 
Hugh  turned  her  over  and  looked  at  the  brand  on  her 
side.  "  Well,"  he  said, ''  it's  one  of  Powell's  cows.  The 
wolves  do  seem  to  pick  out  his  cows,  and  do  him  a  heap 
o'  harm.  Nice  cow,  too  ;  in  good  order.  I  hate  to 
see  this  beef  go  to  waste.  I  believe  I'll  butcher  her, 
so  she  won't  spoil,  and  maybe  your  tmcle  will  want  to 
send  down  a  wagon  to-morrow  and  bring  the  meat  into 
camp.  While  I'm  doing  that,  do  you  expect  you 
could  skin  one  of  them  wolves  ?  I  reckon  you'd  like 
to  save  them  hides ;  they're  in  pretty  fair  order,  for 
they  haven't  begun  to  shed  out  much  yet.  While 
you're  doing  it  you  might  look  and  see  where  your 
bullets  hit  the  wolf  you  shot  at.  I  expect  I  can  tell 
you  why  he  didn't  fall  right  off  when  you  shot.  You're 
out  of  practice,  and  you  drawed  your  sight  too  coarse. 
You  hit  him  both  times,  but  kind  o*  creased  him  in- 
stead  of  hitting  him  where  the  life  lay.  You  ain't 
forgot  how  to  shoot,  but  you've  got  to  learn  your  gun 
over  again," 

While  Hugh  was  opening  the  cow  and  removing  the 


8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

entrails,  Jack  took  out  his  pocket  knife  and  began  to 
skin  the  wolf.  Luckily  he  had  had  his  knife  sharpened 
just  before  he  left  home,  and  so  he  worked  pretty  fast, 
and  before  Hugh  had  left  the  cow  and  begun  to  skin 
the  other  wolf,  Jack  was  half  through  with  his.  They 
finished  skinning  at  about  the  same  time,  and  Hugh 
tied  the  two  hides  on  the  pack-horse ;  then  he  lit  a 
pipe,  sat  down  and  smoked  for  a  while. 

''  1  don't  grudge  the  time  we  took  to  kill  these 
wolves,"  he  said.  "  Killing  wolves  is  part  of  the  work 
on  a  ranch,  just  like  taking  calves  out  of  a  snow-bank, 
or  branding  colts  is.  It's  something  that's  got  to  be 
did,  and  like  all  other  work  it  takes  time.  Where  did 
you  find  them  bullet  holes  of  yours,  son?" 

"  I  found  them  just  where  you  said  they'd  be,  Hugh. 
One  of  them  had  just  cut  the  skin  on  the  back,  and 
the  other  went  through  just  over  the  shoulders,  and 
nicked  one  of  the  shoulder-blades." 

''  That's  what  I  thought,"  said  Hugh;  "you've  got 
to  fire  a  few  shots  and  learn  over  again  just  how  to 
hold  your  gun,  if  you  want  to  drive  nails.  Now,  let's 
go  along.  I'd  like  to  get  to  the  ranch  as  near  supper 
time  as  we  can." 

They  mounted  and  rode  on.  The  wind  was  now 
blowing  so  hard  that,  although  they  rode  side  by  side, 
they  could  not  talk  to  each  other  without  shouting. 
The  horses  were  fat  and  fresh,  and  mile  after  mile  dis- 
appeared swiftly  under  their  ringing  hoofs.  Every  few 
minutes  Jack  saw  some  place  that  was  familiar  to  him, 
and  wanted  to  ask  Hugh  something  about  it,  but  a  few 
attempts  convinced  him  that  it  was  useless  to  try  to 
talk  in  the  wind.     Now  and  then  a  bunch  of  antelope 


BACK  TO  THE  RANCH.  9 

were  seen  off  to  one  side,  or  a  jack-rabbit  jumped  up 
from  under  a  sage  brush,  and  raced  off,  or  a  single  sage- 
hen  rose  from  the  ground  and  scaled  off  down  the  wind. 
As  they  climbed  more  slowly  the  divide  which  led  up 
to  the  valley  where  the  ranch  was  situated  they  passed 
through  a  village  of  prairie  dogs.  These  had  not  long 
since  awakened  from  their  winter  sleep,  and  were  busy 
plucking  the  young  grass,  now  just  appearing  above 
the  ground,  and  only  those  nearest  the  road  paid  any 
attention  to  the  horsemen.  Now  and  then  little 
bunches  of  horses  were  passed,  still  clad  in  their  winter 
coats,  which  hung  down  a  hand's  breadth  below  their 
chins  and  necks  and  bellies.  With  them  they  could 
see  now  and  then  tiny  colts,  which  kept  close  to  their 
mothers'  sides,  feeling  that  only  there  were  they  out 
of  danger.  At  the  edge  of  the  dog  town  a  badger  was 
seen,  nosing  along  through  the  sage  brush,  and  Jack 
reached  down  his  hand  to  get  his  gun,  but  looking  at 
Hugh  saw  him  shake  his  head,  and  understood  that  he 
did  not  wish  to  wait. 

The  sun  had  nearly  reached  the  western  mountains 
when  they  rode  down  into  the  Swiftwater  Valley,  and 
though  they  galloped  along  at  a  good  pace,  it  was  long 
after  dark  before  the  lights  of  the  ranch  house  met 
their  eyes.     A  little  later  they  halted  before  the  barn. 

"  Now,  son,  you're  here  again,  and  this  time  I  ex- 
pect you  don't  need  no  looking  after.  We'll  unsaddle 
here ;  you  hang  your  things  up  on  the  old  peg,  and 
we'll  leave  the  horses  in  the  stalls  to-night." 

A  few  moments  later,  carrying  their  guns  and  Jack's 
bag,  they  stepped  into  the  kitchen  of  the  ranch,  and 
were  warmly  welcomed  by  all  hands. 


CHAPTER    II. 

A  GLANCE   BACKWARD. 

It  was  late  May  at  the  Swiftwater  Ranch  ;  back  in 
the  east  it  would  have  been  summer,  but  here  the  snow 
was  falling  heavily,  and  being  whirled  about  the  build- 
ings by  the  high  wind,  piling  up  in  drifts  on  the  lee- 
ward side,  and  being  swept  off  the  ground  to  windward. 
Down  in  the  bunk-house  Jack  Danvers  and  Hugh 
Johnson  were  sitting  on  the  floor  near  the  warm  stove, 
looking  over  pack-saddles,  cinches  and  ropes,  for  they 
were  preparing  to  make  a  long  journey. 

Only  the  day  before  Jack  had  reached  the  ranch  from 
Kew  York,  after  an  absence  of  seven  months,  and  all 
his  friends  there  were  glad  to  see  him  again.  Dur- 
ing the  winter  he  had  succeeded  in  persuading  his 
parents  to  consent  to  his  making  the  long  trip  up  north 
to  the  Piegan  camp,  of  which  Hugh  and  John  Monroe 
had  talked  to  him  the  year  before.  Mr.  Sturgis,  his 
uncle,  wished  to  have  him  go,  and  had  said  that  he 
was  willing  to  let  Hugh  be  absent  from  the  ranch  dur- 
ing the  time  needed  for  the  journey  and  the  stay  in 
the  Indian  camp.  This  would  be  not  less  than  four 
months,  for  it  would  take  them  a  month  to  reach  the 
camp,  and  nearly  as  much  more  to  return,  and  it  was 
not  worth  while  to  make  so  long  a  trip  unless  they 
were  to  stay  with  the  Indians  two  or  three  months. 


A  GLANCE  BACKWARD.  ii 

It  will  be  remembered  by  those  who  have  read  the 
adventures  of  Jack  during  his  summer  spent  on  Mr. 
Sturgis'  ranch,  that  he  had  learned  a  good  deal  about 
life  in  the  west ; — to  ride  and  shoot  and  throw  a  rope 
— and  had  been  taught  by  Hugh  much  of  the  knowl- 
edge required  by  one  who  lived  the  open-air  life  of 
mountain  and  prairie.  Hugh  had  said,  and  Jack's 
uncle  agreed  with  him,  that  they  two  could  perfectly 
well  make  the  journey  to  the  north.  There  was  only 
one  possible  cause  of  anxiety,  and  that  was  the  chance 
that  they  might  meet  with  some  party  of  hostile  In- 
dians, in  which  case  they  might  have  to  fight  for  their 
lives.  There  was  not  much  danger  that  this  would 
happen,  for  spring  had  but  just  opened,  the  grass  was 
only  now  beginning  to  start ;  the  Indian  ponies,  which 
are  always  thin  In  flesh  at  the  end  of  the  winter,  would 
not  have  become  fat ;  and  so  it  was  too  early  for  war 
parties  to  be  moving  about  much.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  riding  and  pack  animals  taken  by  Hugh  would  be 
fat  and  in  good  condition,  and  so,  well  able  to  run 
away  from  any  pursuers.  It  had  been  determined, 
too,  to  select  horses  that  were  fast,  and  when  these 
precautions  had  been  taken,  and  Hugh's  great  knowl- 
edge of  Indians  and  their  ways  was  considered,  the 
danger  of  trouble  appeared  very  slight. 

Mr.  Sturgis  was  extremely  fond  of  Jack,  and  dearly 
loved  his  sister,  and  he  would  not  for  a  moment  have 
thought  of  letting  the  boy  run  any  risks. 

•'  I  didn't  hardly  know  you  yesterday,  son,  when 
you  got  off  the  train  ;  you  seem  to  have  changed  a 
heap  since  you  went  away  from  here  last  fall.  You're 
sure  grown  ;  you're  a  heap  taller  than  you  were,  and 


12  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

you  look  kind  o*  white  and  bleached  out,  like    you'd 
faded." 

"  I  guess  that's  so,  Hugh,"  replied  Jack,  "  I  know 
I've  grown  pretty  near  two  inches,  for  I  was  measured 
last  fall,  when  I  entered  school,  and  again  this  spring 
when  I  left,  and  of  course  I'm  white,  because  I've 
been  living  in  a  house  ever  since  I  got  back,  and 
haven't  been  out  of  doors  at  all." 

"  Well,  what  did  ye  do  all  winter  ?  "  said  Hugh  ; 
"  went  to  school,  I  reckon,  and  learned  a  whole  lot. 
Study  hard  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  studied  hard.  Of  course  I  wanted  to  do 
well,  but  after  I'd  been  back  a  little  while,  I  thought 
that  maybe  if  I  worked  right  hard  at  school,  and  got 
good  reports  right  along,  father  would  be  more  will- 
ing to  have  me  come  out  here  again  and  spend  the  sum- 
mer with  you." 

"  Well,  that  was  pretty  good  sense.  I  expect  ye 
tried  to  keep  him  pleased  with  your  schooling  right 
along." 

"  Yes,  I  did,"  said  Jack.  "  I  told  Uncle  Will  about 
it  soon  after  I  started  in  at  school,  and  he  said  it  was 
a  mighty  good  idea,  and  I'd  better  keep  it  up.  I  don't 
know  whether  they  would  have  let  me  come  or  not,  if 
it  hadn't  been  for  Uncle  Will.  When  he  left  home  in 
the  spring  I  heard  him  say  to  mother,  *  Jack's  been 
working  hard  all  winter,  and  he's  getting  to  look  pretty 
thin  and  white  ;  I  really  think  you'd  better  send  him 
off  to  me  again  in  a  month  or  two,  for  that  long  trip 
that  he  and  Hugh  have  been  planning.'  So  along 
in  April  I  spoke  to  father  about  coming  out  again. 
He  said  he  was  willing  I  should  come  if  mother  was, 


A  GLANCE  BACKWARD.  13 

and  that  he'd  talk  to  her  about  it  ;  so  after  a  while  it 
got  so  that  we  all  of  us  talked  it  over  together,  and  at 
last  father  and  mother  both  said  that  I  could  come; 
and  here  I  am,  and  mighty  glad  to  get  back  here,  too, 
you  bet." 

''Well,  you  bet,  we're  mighty  glad  to  see  you,  and 
we'd  like  to  have  you  stop  here  right  along;  only  I 
don't  expect  that  would  do,  'cause  ye're  young  and 
ye've  got  a  heap  to  learn  ;  but  it's  sure  mighty  good  for 
a  boy  to  spend  three  or  four  months  out  here  in  the 
fine  weather,  and  so  to  get  ready  for  these  long  months 
when  ye've  got  to  live  in  a  house  all  the  time." 

''  There's  one  thing  I  did  last  winter,  Hugh,  that  I 
think  is  going  to  be  a  lot  of  fun;  I  learned  how  to 
make  a  bird  skin." 

"  Make  a  bird  skin  !  "  said  Hugh.  **  How  do  ye  make 
it?" 

**  I  mean  I  learned  how  to  skin  a  bird,  and  stufT  cot- 
ton into  it,  and  fix  it  up  so  that  it  looks  just  like  a 
dead  bird  lying  there  with  its  legs  stretched  out. 
You  know  there  are  people  who  study  birds  and  know 
all  about  all  the  different  kinds.  When  they  see  a  bird 
they  can  tell  you  in  a  minute  just  what  its  Latin 
name  is,  and  where  it  lives  in  summer,  and  then  where 
it  goes  to  pass  the  winter,  for  of  course  there  are  lots 
of  birds  that  go  south  in  the  fall,  until  the  weather 
gets  warm,  and  then  come  north  again." 

"Yes,  that's  so,"  said  Hugh,  "everybody  knows 
that." 

"Well,"  continued  Jack,  "of  course  there  isn't  any 
man  who  has  been  all  over  the  world  and  seen  all  the 
birds   that  there  are,  alive  ;  so  the  men  that  go  to  one 


14  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

place,  kill  and  skin  a  lot  of  the  birds  that  live  there, 
and  then  when  they  get  back  they  put  these  skins  in 
a  museum,  where  everybody  can  see  them  ;  and  there 
are  a  lot  of  men  doing  this  all  the  time  ;  and  so  after 
a  while  the  biggest  museums  come  to  have  the  skins 
of  pretty  nearly  all  the  birds  there  are.  There  must 
be  a  lot  of  'em  in  all.  An  ornithologist  told  me  there 
were  more  than  750  in  North  America." 

"  What  was  it  told  you  that?"  asked  Hugh. 

*'  An  ornithologist,"  said  Jack. 

''  What's  that?"  questioned  Hugh  ;  "  it's  a  mighty 
long  word,  'pears  to  me." 

"  It  means  a  man  that  studies  birds,  and  knows  all 
about  them." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I'd  hate  to  be  called  by  such 
a  name  as  that,  even  if  I  did  know  all  about  birds." 

*'  Why,"  said  Jack,  "  that  word  isn't  anything  to 
some  of  the  Latin  names  these  little  birds  have.  I 
don't  know  what  they  are,  many  of  them,  at  least,  but 
they're  all  written  down  in  Uncle  Will's  bird  book,  up 
at  the  house,  and  some  of  them  are  terrors,  I  can  tell 
you." 

"  And  this  man  told  you  there  was  750  different 
kinds  of  birds  in  this  country,  did  he  ?  "   said  Hugh. 

''  That's  what  he  told  me,"  said  Jack. 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  of  course  this  is  a  big  country, 
and  I  make  no  doubt  there's  lots  o'  birds  that  I  never 
saw,  but  I  don't  believe  that  there's  fifty  different 
kinds  o*  birds  around  this  ranch." 

"  Oh,  yes  there  are.  I'll  bet  there's  twice  as  many 
as  that.  Why  just  try  and  count  'em  up  for  yourself; 
think  of  all  the  different  kinds  of  ducks  and  geese  that 


.     A  GLANCE  BACKWARD.  15 

we  saw  last  fall,  and  the  grouse,  and  the  robins  and 
the  gray  jays.  I'll  bet  you  could  count  more  than 
fifty  yourself,  if  you  had  time  to   think   about  it." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "maybe  I  could;  come  to 
think  about  it  ;  there's  a  heap  o'  different  kinds  o' 
birds.  I  never  paid  much  attention  to  any  of  'em, 
only  the  kinds  that's  good  to  eat ;  but  say,  I  should 
think  it  would  be  mighty  hard  work  skinning  these 
little  birds;  their  skin  must  be  awful  thin,  and  tear 
mighty  easy." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "that's  just  what  I  thought 
when  I  started  in,  but  the  fact  is  their  skins  are 
pretty  tough.  Of  course  you  can't  pull  at  them  the 
way  you  would  at  a  deer  skin,  but  if  you  know  how  to 
do  it,  you  scarcely  ever  tear  a  bird  skin. 

*'  Uncle  Will  put  me  up  to  this  soon  after  I  got 
home,  and  he  took  me  down  to  a  bird  skinner  and 
hired  him  to  give  me  lessons.  I  used  to  go  down 
there  twice  a  week  all  through  the  winter  and  spring, 
and  I  have  got  so  now  that  I  can  make  a  pretty 
good  skin,  and  work  pretty  fast,  too.  I'm  going  to 
try  to  collect  a  few  skins  here,  sometime  when  I  can. 
If  I  come  out  another  summer  to  stay  here,  I  shall 
try  to  make  a  collection  of  all  the  birds  that  live  here 
in  summer." 

"  Well,  I'd  like  right  well  to  see  you  doing  that 
work.  It  seems  to  me  it  would  be  mighty  hard,  but 
then  there's  a  whole  lot  of  things  that  we  ain't  none  of 
us  ever  done  that  looks  hard  and  yet  are  real  easy 
after  we  know  how  to  do  'em." 

While  all  this  talk  was  going  on,  they  had  been 
sorting  over  the  material  that  was  strewed  on  the  floor, 


i6  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

had  picked  out  four  good  strong  pack  saddles,  and  the 
greater  part  of  their  riggings.  Two  of  the  lash 
cinches  were  in  good  order,  the  other  two  needed 
new  hooks.  Hugh  stepped  out  of  doors,  and  pres- 
ently returned,  bringing  with  him  a  small  elk  horn, 
from  which  he  sawed  off  two  lengths,  each  of  which 
bore  a  prong.  These  he  placed  in  a  vice,  shaped 
with  a  heavy  rasp,  and  then  passed  over  to  Jack  to 
fasten  to  the  cinches.  The  smooth  hook  of  horn  was 
laced  to  the  end  of  the  cinch  so  that  it  hung  down 
three  inches  below  it. 

All  the  straps  of  the  pack  saddle  were  now  care- 
fully looked  over ;  any  that  were  worn  or  in  any  way 
weak  were  renewed  ;  sling  ropes  of  just  the  right 
length  were  cut  for  each  saddle,  and  new  lash  ropes 
took  the  place  of  one  or  two  that  shewed  signs  of 
wear ;  four  hackamores  were  made,  one  for  each  pack 
horse. 

This  work  took  up  all  the  morning,  and  was  not  en- 
tirely finished  when  the  horn  blew  for  dinner. 


CHAPTER  III. 

GETTING  READY. 

When  Hugh  and  Jack  went  back  to  the  bunk- 
house,  after  dinner,  the  snow  had  ceased  falling, 
and  the  sun  was  shining  brightly.  The  little  birds 
that  had  been  hidden  in  the  brush  during  the  storm 
had  come  out,  and  were  now  hopping  about  on  the 
wet  ground,  feeding,  while  some  were  cheerily  sing- 
ing from  the  tops  of  the  fence  posts.  The  mellow 
whistle  of  the  meadow  lark  was  heard  alike  from  far 
down  the  valley  and  from  the  hillsides  above  them, 
and  the  black-birds  were  gurgling  in  the  aspens  be- 
hind the  house.  Jack  stopped  before  entering  the 
bunk-house  and  looked  at  the  mountain,  still  white 
with  snow,  and  stretched  out  his  arms  and  drew  a 
deep  breath,  and  yelled  aloud  with  pure  delight. 
Hugh  turned  and  looked  back  at  him  through  the 
open  door,  smiling,  as  if  greatly  pleased,  and  said, 
"  Seems  good  to  get  back,  don't  it  ?  I  tell  ye  there's 
no  place  like  the  mountains,  and  the  longer  ye  stay 
among  them  the  longer  ye  want  to  be  there." 

"  I  guess  that's  so,  Hugh,"  said  Jack;  ^' it  seems  to 
me  I  never  was  so  glad  to  be  anywhere  as  I  am  to  be 
here.  Somehow  I  can't  say  what  I  feel,  but  I  just 
seem  to  be  all  full  in  here,"  and  he  placed  his  hand  on 
his  breast. 


i8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

*' Yes,  I  know  what  you  mean,  although  I  can't  say 
it  no  more  than  you  can." 

A  few  moments  later  the  two  were  kneeling  on  the 
floor,  unpacking  the  contents  of  a  large  box  which 
had  come  to  the  ranch  some  time  before.  Hugh  and 
Mr.  Sturgis  had  thought  that  it  might  be  a  good  thing 
for  the  travellers  to  take  with  them  some  articles  to 
trade  with  the  Indians.  Of  course  a  few  presents 
would  be  needed,  for,  although  Hugh,  from  his  old 
acquaintance  with  the  tribe,  was  sure  of  a  hearty  wel- 
come, and  Jack,  as  a  friend  of  Hugh  and  John  Mon- 
roe, would  be  gladly  received,  there  would  be  times 
when  it  would  be  desirable  to  make  to  certain  men 
small  gifts ;  but  besides  this,  it  had  occurred  to  Mr. 
Sturgis  that  perhaps  they  might  buy  a  few  horses, 
and  furs  enough  to  load  them,  and  might  bring  them 
back  on  their  return  journey.  Thus,  the  trip  would 
be  one  of  mingled  business  and  pleasure,  and  there 
certainly  was  no  possible  objection  to  making  a  trad- 
ing journey  of  the  visit. 

The  different  bundles  that  were  taken  out  were  la- 
beled, and  were  put  in  piles  on  the  floor.  There 
were  bolts  of  red  and  of  blue  cloth  :  and  of  gaily  fig- 
ured calicos  ;  two  or  three  bundles  of  bright  hand- 
kerchiefs ;  boxes  containing  beads,  selected  with  care 
as  being  the  kind  most  prized  by  the  Indians  ;  there 
was  quite  a  large  bundle  of  cans  of  dry  paint  of  dif- 
ferent colors  ;  and  last,  and  perhaps  most  important 
of  all,  if  one  might  estimate  its  value  by  the  amount  of 
pleasure  it  would  give,  a  large  bundle  of  tobacco. 

"  Quite  a  bunch  of  stuff,  ain't  it,  son  ?  " 

''Yes,   indeed,"  said  Jack;    ''there's  more    than   I 


GETTING  READY. 


19 


thought  there  was.  How  are  you  going  to  divide 
it  up  ?  " 

*' Weil,"  said  Hugh,  *' these  things  look  like  more 
than  they  are.  A  lot  of  these  bundles  are  bulky,  and 
don't  weigh  much.  I  guess  we'll  get  it  all  on  two 
horses,  and  that  will  leave  one  horse  for  the  grub  and 
one  for  our  beds  and  the  mess  outfit.  Now,  I  expect 
the  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  go  up  and  see  if  we 
can't  get  Mrs.  Carter  to  give  us  three  or  four  seamless 
sacks,  and  make  up  packs  of  all  this  stuff,  so  that  we 
can  throw  'em  right  on  and  off  the  horses.  Then  we 
won't  have  to  be  gathering  up  a  lot  of  little,  small 
bundles  every  time  we  start  to  pack  in  the  morning. 
Of  course  gunny  sacks  would  do,  but  we  want  to  keep 
all  this  stuff  as  clean  as  we  can,  so  that  when  we  sret 
to  the  Indian  camp  and  open  it,  even  the  outsides  of 
the  bundles  will  look  pretty  fresh  and  new;  and  be- 
sides that  we've  got  to  get  a  couple  of  mantas  for  these 
packs,  for  likely  we'll  have  plenty  of  rain  storms 
while  we're  on  the  road,  and  we  want  to  keep  these 
things  dry  if  we  can.  The  best  way  we  can  work  it, 
we'll  likely  get  them  wet  crossing  some  creek  between 
here  and  the  north,  for  all  the  creeks  will  be  full  now 
for  the  next  month,  and  we'll  likely  have  to  do 
some  swimming."  Hugh  went  back  into  the  dark 
store  room  and  rummaged  about  for  awhile,  and  then 
came  out,  carrying  three  or  four  nearly  square  pieces 
of  canvas,  which  he  threw  on  the  ground. 

"  I  thought  we  had  some,"  he  said  in  a  satisfied 
tone,  "  but  they  ain't  been  used  for  a  long  time,  and 
I  didn't  know  but  the  boys  had  lost  'em." 

"What  are  they  for,  Hugh.?" 


20  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"Why,  you  see,"  said  Hugh,  "you  throw  a  manta 
over  your  pack,  after  you  get  the  load  on,  but  before 
you  put  on  your  lash  rope  ;  the  lash  holds  the  manta 
in  place,  and  it  keeps  everything  below  it  dry. 

"  Well  now,  son,  we've  got  everything  except  the 
blankets,  and  I  believe  it  would  be  a  good  idea  if 
you'd  saddle  up  Pawnee  and  go  out  and  drive  in  the 
horses  that  are  in  the  pasture,  and  I'll  show  you  what 
pack  horses  we've  picked  out,  and  then  we'll  put  the 
saddles  on  'em,  and  make  sure  that  we've  got  every- 
thing." 

"  All  right,  Hugh,  I'll  do  it ;  "  and  he  went  down  to 
the  stable,  put  the  saddle  on  Pawnee,  rode  over  into 
the  pasture  and  gathered  what  horses  were  there, 
drove  them  into  the  corral,  and  shut  the  gate.  Hugh 
had  already  carried  down  two  of  the  pack  saddles  and 
blankets,  and  Jack,  leaving  Pawnee  at  the  corral, 
started  up  to  the  bunk-house,  but  met  Hugh  coming 
with  the  other  two  saddles  and  their  blankets. 

"  Now,"  said  Hugh,  as  they  reached  the  corral, 
"  I'll  show  you  what  horses  I've  picked  out  for  the 
trip.  We  want  animals  that  are  fat  and  strong  and 
pretty  tough,  and  pretty  fast,  too.  I  ain't  going  to 
take  along  any  old  plug  pack  horses,  because, 
you  see,  it  might  be  such  a  thing  as  we'd  get 
chased,  and  have  to  run,  and  we  don't  want 
to  have  horses  that  we'll  have  to  leave  behind, 
and  so  lose  our  grub  or  our  blankets  or  our  goods. 
Your  uncle,  he  said  he  was  willing  we  should  take 
two  pretty  good  saddle  horses  for  two  of  our  pack 
animals,  and  I  figured  we'd  take  two  of  them  young 
horses  that  you  see  Toney  bust  last   year  ;   they  ain't 


GETTING  READY.  21 

well  enough  broke  yet  to  be  right  good  riding  horses, 
but  they're  tough  and  strong,  and  by  the  time  they've 
carried  a  pack  a  week  or  ten  days  they'll  be  plenty 
gentle. 

"  Take  your  rope  now  and  go  in  and  catch  me  that 
paint  horse,  and  we'll  put  him  in  the  small  corral,  and 
then  I  want  that  big  dun  over  there,  him  they  call  the 
bucking  dun,  and  then  that  black  with  the  white  hind 
foot;  and  then  I  reckoned  we'd  take  either  that 
star-faced  bay  or  else  that  gray,  I  ain't  quite  made  up 
my  mind  which.     Which  do  you  like  the  best?  " 

"Well,  Hugh,  if  we  were  just  going  off  on  a  trip  I'd 
take  the  gray,  because  he  looks  the  stoutest,  and  the 
best  able  to  carry  a  load,  but  I  should  think  the  bay 
could  run  the  fastest,  if  you're  looking  for  speed." 

**  Well  now,  you  ain't  forgot  all  you  learned  last 
year,  have  you  ?  That's  a  pretty  good  judgment.  I 
expect  we'll  leave  the  gray  here  and  take  the  bay, 
and  we'll  make  him  carry  our  beds  and  ammunition, 
because  that's  the  lightest  load,  and  them's  the  things 
we'd  hate  most  to  lose." 

Jack  caught  the  horses  one  by  one,  and  was  pleased 
to  find  that  he  had  not  forgotten  how  to  throw  a 
rope.  He  turned  them  into  the  small  corral,  and 
Hugh  let  the  other  horses  out  into  the  pasture  ;  then, 
one  by  one,  the  horses  were  caught,  the  hackamores 
put  on  them,  and  then  blankets  and  saddles.  At  first 
the  cinches  were  drawn  only  tight  enough  to  keep  the 
saddles  in  place,  but  after  all  were  saddled,  they  went 
over  them  again  and  drew  both  cinches  up  tight.  To 
this  operation  the  bucking  dun  objected  strenuously, 
and,   as    the    flank  cinch    was    drawn  tight,  he  broke 


22  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

away,  and  bucked  vigourously  about  the  small  corral. 
When  he  had  stopped  they  caught  him  again,  and 
again  drew  up  on  the  cinch,  finally  tying  it ;  and  then, 
fastening  up  the  hackamore,  turned  the  horse  loose. 
The  star-faced  bay  also  bucked,  but  not  so  hard  nor 
so  long  as  the  dun. 

"Now,  I'll  tell  you  what,  son,"  said  Hugh,  *'  any  of 
these  horses  we  take  along  can  be  ridden,  and  they 
ain't  none  of  *em  got  loads  so  heavy  but  what  three  of 
'em  can  carry  all  the  stuff  there  is  ;  so  that  if  any- 
thing should  happen  to  either  of  our  riding  horses  we 
can  still  have  a  horse  apiece  to  ride.  Maybe  it  might 
be  a  pretty  good  thing  to  take  along  an  extra  saddle 
horse  or  two.  I  don't  know  as  it  would,  and  I  don't 
know  as  it  would.  Of  course  for  awhile  we've  got  to 
picket  all  these  horses,  and  when  you've  got  to  do 
that,  every  extra  horse  makes  a  lot  of  trouble,  and 
makes  another  rope  to  lose.  We'll  have  to  think 
about  that  and  I  reckon  I'll  ask  Jo  if  he  knows  of 
any  one  of  these  horses  that's  good  to  stay  about 
camp  ;  easy  caught,  and  yet  is  pretty  fast.  You  see, 
pretty  nearly  all  these  is  new  horses,  and  I  don't 
know  much  about  them." 

By  this  time  the  afternoon  was  well  advanced  ;  the 
sun  was  still  shining  warmly,  and  the  snow  which  had 
fallen  in  the  morning  was  melting  fast.  Hugh  and 
Jack  went  over  to  the  sunny  side  of  the  bunk-house 
and  sat  down  there  on  a  log,  and  Hugh  filled  his  pipe 
and  smoked. 

"There's  one  thing,"  he  said,  "  we  ought  to  have, 
but  we  ain't  got  it,  and  we  ain't  likely  to  get  it  ;  we 
ought  to  have  some  dried  meat  to   take  along.     You 


GETTING  READY.  23 

see,  we  won't  have  no  time  to  hunt,  travelling  steady, 
the  way  we  will,  and  for  a  while  we'll  have  to  live  on 
bacon.  Of  course  there'll  be  a  chance  to  kill  an  ante- 
lope now  and  then,  but  until  we  strike  buffalo  we  can't 
expect  much  fresh  meat.  I'd  like  it  right  well  if  we 
had  a  little  bunch  of  dried  meat,  but  we  ain't  got  it. 
If  your  uncle  had  thought  best  to  send  back  and  get 
some  of  that  beef  I  butchered  yesterday,  we  could 
have  dried  some  of  that,  but  he  didn't  want  to  eat 
another  man's  beef,  and  I  don't  know  as  I  blame  him 
much.  If  he  did  that  this  spring,  somebody  might 
kill  a  beef  that  belonged  to  him  in  the  fall,  just  be- 
cause he  was  hungry.  Might  be  such  a  thing  as  we'd 
get  a  piece  of  beef  over  to  Powell's  ;  we'll  about  make 
his  ranch  to-morrow  night,  and  then  that'll  be  the  last 
place  we'll  strike  till  we  get  way  up  north." 

"  Oh,  do  we  go  by  Powell's  ?  "  said  Jack  ;  ''  I'd  like 
to  see  all  of  them  again,  Charlie,  Bess  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Powell ;  they  were  nice  to  us  last  summer." 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  ''they're  good  people.  Good 
neighbours.  You  know,  don't  you,"  he  went  on, 
**  Powell  bought  thirty  saddle  horses  from  your  uncle 
last  fall,  after  you  left ;  he  paid  fifty  dollars  a  head 
for  'em,  and  sold  'em  for  sixty-five.  He's  quite  a 
trader,  Powell  is." 

As  they  sat  there  talking,  the  sound  of  a  cow  bell 
was  heard  at  first  faintly,  and  a  long  way  off,  but  it 
kept  getting  nearer  and  nearer.  Jack  asked  Hugh, 
**  Who  gets  the  milk  cows  now,  Hugh  ?  " 

"  Jo  does.  He  often  says  he  wishes  he  had  you  to 
send  out  to  bring  'em  in  ;  but  that  ain't  one  of  the 
milk  cows  coming  now." 


24  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  Well,  what  is  it  ?  I  thought  it  was  old  Browny's 
bell." 

'*  No,  that's  the  bell  old  Browny  used  to  wear,  but 
your  elk  wears  it  now,  and  that's  him  a-coming." 

Sure  enough ;  a  moment  afterward  an  elk  stepped 
out  of  the  brush  above  them  on  the  hillside,  and  came 
toward  the  house ;  it  wore  a  bell,  and  besides  this,  a 
great  strip  of  red  cloth  was  tied  around  its  neck. 

**  What  in  the  world  is  that  he's  got  around  his  neck, 
Hugh?"  said  Jack;  "it  looks  as  if  he  had  a  sore 
throat  and  had  a  strip  of  red  flannel  tied  around  it." 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  "he's  got  the  red  flannel  all 
right.  This  spring  when  we  turned  him  out  Jo  was 
afraid  that  somebody  would  shoot  him  for  a  wild  elk, 
so  he  put  the  bell  on,  and  that  red  cloth,  and  then  he 
told  everybody  he  met,  when  he  was  riding,  about  it, 
and  I  expect  there  ain't  no  one  in  quite  a  scope  of 
country  but  knows  about  that  elk,  and  just  how  he 
sounds  and  looks." 

Meantime  the  elk  had  been  slowly  approaching,  and 
Jack  got  up  and  walked  over  toward  it.  It  was  just 
shedding  out,  and  great  patches  of  its  body  were 
smooth  and  yellow,  while  other  patches  were  still 
covered  with  long,  brownish  hair,  at  the  base  of  which 
a  thick  fur  or  wool  could  be  seen.  Hugh  called  out  to 
Jack,  "  You  want  to  look  out  for  him,  son  ;  he's  pretty 
handy  sometimes  with  them  fore  feet  of  his,  when  he 
ain't  in  a  good  temper;  he  may  strike  at  you."  When 
Jack  heard  this  he  did  not  go  very  close  to  the  elk, 
but  contented  himself  with  walking  about  it,  while  the 
animal  followed  him  with  its  great  mild  eyes.  A  mo- 
ment after,  Hugh  came  up  with  some  salt  in  his  hand 


GETTING  READY.  25 

and  held  it  out  to  [the   elk,  which  walked  quietly   up 
and  licked  the  salt  off  his  hand. 

"  I  ain't  got  much  use  for  a  tame  elk,"  said  Hugh  ; 
"  they're  stupid  critters,  and  'most  always  mean  ;  you 
never  can  trust  'em." 

"  I  think  just  as  you  do,  Hugh  ;  that  they're  awful 
stupid  ;  and  I  would  never  again  take  the  trouble  to 
pack  a  calf  into  camp. 

Presently  the  elk  put  down  its  head  and  began  to 
feed  away  from  them,  and  they  went  back  to  their  seat 
in  the  sun.  A  little  later  they  went  down  to  the 
corral,  unsaddled  the  pack  horses,  turned  them  out 
into  the  pasture,  and  carried  the  riggings  up  to  the 
bunk-house.  It  proved  that  Mrs.  Carter  had  four 
seamless  sacks  that  she  could  let  them  have,  and  with 
these  they  made  up  four  side  packs  of  the  goods.  The 
two  centr  packs  they  made  up  with  gunny  sacks  and 
canvas,  so  that  when  they  started  they  would  only 
have  to  lift  the  packs  onto  the  horses. 

The  remainder  of  the  day  was  devoted  to  laying  out 
their  provisions  and  their  mess-kit.  Their  cooking 
utensils  were  put  in  a  wooden  box  to  go  on  the  load 
above  their  beds.  Everything  was  made  ready  as  far 
as  possible,  so  that  in  the  morning  there  would  be 
nothing  to  do  except  to  catch  and  saddle  the  horses, 
put  the  loads  on  them,  and  start. 

The  day  had  passed  swiftly  for  Jack,  and  when 
night  came  he  was  pretty  tired.  After  supper  his 
uncle  talked  to  him  for  a  little  while,  impressing  on 
him  the  necessity  of  caution,  telling  him  of  the 
responsibility  that  would  rest  on  Hugh,  who  had 
charge  of  him  for  this  long  trip,  and  explaining  to  him 


26  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

that  now  he  was  starting  off  to  act  a  man's  part,  and 
that  he  must  exercise  a  man's  discretion.  He  said, 
**  Hugh  feels  very  confident  that  you  are  old  enough, 
and  have  had  experience  enough,  to  be  trusted.  He 
thinks  that  you  will  not  be  a  cause  of  care  or  anxiety 
to  him,  but  that  you  will  understand  that  you  must  now 
use  common  sense  and  good  judgment.  I  think  that 
his  estimate  of  you  is  a  fairly  just  one,  but  I  want  you 
to  try  to  be  thoughtful  and  never  let  your  boyish 
enthusiasm  get  the  better  of  you.  We  all  want  you  to 
have  a  good  time  on  this  trip,  but  we  do  not  want  you 
to  have  a  good  time  at  the  cost  of  suffering  of  any  sort 
to  any  older  person." 

"Well,  Uncle  Will,"  said  Jack,  "  I  have  thought  a 
good  deal  about  that,  too,  and  I  know  that  there  may 
be  times  when  I'll  have  to  use  all  the  sense  I  have  got, 
but  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  follow  Hugh's  direc- 
tions as  closely  as  I  can,  and  to  try  not  to  make  a  fool 
of  myself." 

"  That's  good,"  said  his  uncle  ;  "  if  you  can  only 
keep  that  in  mind  all  the  time  I  shall  not  be  anxious 
about  you." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    START. 

Although  Hugh  called  Jack  very  early  next  morn- 
ing, it  already  was  daylight  and  the  sun  was  just  ris- 
ing. Jack  saddled  Pawnee,  rode  out  into  the  pasture 
and  drove  in  the  horses,  and  before  breakfast  they  had 
cut  out  their  pack  animals  and  saddled  them,  and  left 
them  standing  in  the  corral.  The  night  before,  Hugh 
had  laid  out  their  provisions,  which  were  of  the  sim- 
plest kind  ;  a  sack  of  flour,  some  corn  meal,  oat  meal 
bacon,  coffee,  sugar  and  salt,  were  all  they  took.  Their 
mess-kit  consisted  of  two  frying  pans,  a  coffee  pot,  a 
small  water  bucket,  a  tin  pan,  a  bake  oven,  tin  plates 
and  cups,  and  knives,  spoons  and  forks.  They  took 
along,  also,  a  dozen  good  butcher  knives,  a  new  axe 
and  a  small  hatchet.  Besides  this,  there  was  a  coil  of 
rope,  from  which  lariats  and  lash  ropes  could  be  cut,  in 
case  of  need. 

Immediately  after  breakfast,  Jack  helped  Hugh 
make  up  the  loads,  although  really  there  was  not  much 
that  he  could  do,  except  to  look  on  and  learn.  They 
were  to  put  the  bedding  and  the  mess  outfit  on  one 
horse,  the  provisions  on  another,  and  the  trade  goods 
were  to  be  carried  by  the  two  others. 

Hugh  said,  "  I  wanted  to  get  an  early  start  this 
morning,  if  we  could,  because  I  expect  likely  the  first 


28  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

day  out  we'll  have  some  trouble  with  the  horses.  You 
see,  they're  fat  and  fresh,  haven't  been  doing  nothing 
all  winter,  and  they  won't  want  to  travel  away  from 
home  ;  so  it's  likely  we  won't  go  very  far,  and  we'll 
have  a  long  day.  Now,  you  run  down  to  the  corral, 
son,  and  bring  up  the  dun  ;  we'll  load  him  with  some 
of  this  trade  stuff  and  see  how  he  does.  Maybe  you'd 
better  let  Jo  pack  on  the  off  side  this  morning,  'cause 
we  want  to  make  these  loads  stay,  if  we  can.  You'll 
have  plenty  of  chances  to  pack  before  we  get  back 
again,  and  I  expect  by  the  time  we  ride  in  here  in  the 
fall  you'll  be  a  regular  old  government  packer." 

Jack  went  down  to  the  corral  and  got  the  horse. 
He  could  not  help  feeling  a  little  disappointed  that 
he  was  not  to  help  put  on  the  loads.  He  felt  as  if, 
from  this  morning  until  the  time  of  their  return,  he 
would  like  to  take  an  equal  share  in  all  the  work  that 
was  to  be  done  ;  still,  he  could  see  that  what  Hugh  said 
was  wise,  and  that  it  was  important  to  have  the  packs 
well  put  on  this  morning,  when  the  horses  were  all 
fresh  ;  so  he  led  the  dun  up  to  the  bunk-house,  and 
stood  back  and  watched  the  packing,  trying  to  follow 
each  operation.  While  he  did  this,  he  realised  that 
his  m.em.ory  of  the  few  lessons  in  packing  that  he  had 
had  the  fall  before  was  not  very  fresh,  and  this  quite 
reconciled  him  to  seeing  Jo  handle  the  ropes. 

The  dun  laid  back  his  ears,  and  rolled  his  eyes,  and 
humped  up  his  back  a  little,  as  the  saddle  cinches 
were  tightened,  but  stood  quiet  while  the  packs  were 
put  in  place,  and  the  manta  thrown  over  them.  He 
jumped  a  little  as  the  lash  rope  touched  his  hips, 
when  Hugh  was  preparing  to  throw  it,  but  when  the 


THE  START.  29 

first  pull  was  made  by  Jo,  in  tightening  the  lash  cinch 
he  bowed  his  back,  put  down  his  head,  and  made  as  if 
he  would  buck.  Rube  had  him  by  the  hackamore, 
however,  and  the  men  on  either  side  clung  to  the 
ropes,  and  at  last  he  was  quieted  until  all  the  pulls 
had  been  made  and  the  lash  rope  was  fastened.  But 
soon  as  Rube  let  go  the  hackamore,  and  he  had  taken 
a  step  or  two  and  felt  the  swaying  load  on  his  back, 
he  put  down  his  head  and  began  to  buck  in  good  ear- 
nest. Round  and  round  he  went,  taking  high  jumps, 
and  throwing  his  heels  so  far  into  the  air  that  it 
seemed  as  if  he  must  turn  a  somersault  every  time  he 
struck  the  ground.  Sometimes  the  load  almost  over- 
balanced, and  he  staggered,  but  the  ropes  held  tight, 
and  at  last,  tired  of  the  hard  work,  he  stood  still. 
One  of  the  men  walked  up  to  him  and  led  him  back 
to  the  bunk-house  door,  when  the  ropes  were  again 
tightened  a  little,  and  he  was  once  more  set  free. 

By  this  time  Jack  had  gone  down  and  brought  up 
the  black  horse,  on  which  a  load  was  put,  but  he  stood 
quiet.  The  provisions  were  put  on  the  paint  horse, 
which  also  was  quiet  ;  but  the  rattling  of  the  dishes 
in  their  wooden  box  set  the  bay  horse  to  bucking, 
though  he  did  not  keep  it  up  long. 

''There,"  said  Hugh,  when  the  bay  had  been 
caught  again,  and  his  load  inspected,  "  I  expect  that's 
about  as  good  as  we  can  make  it.  Now  then,  son,  it's 
time  for  you  and  me  to  saddle  up,  and  then  we  can 
roll." 

Jack  brought  Pawnee  up  to  the  house,  and  Hugh 
soon  rode  up  on  old  Baldy.  Mr.  Sturgis,  Mrs.  Carter, 
and  Rube  and  Jo  all  stood  there  to  watch  the  travellerr 


30  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

start.  Hugh  tied  a  lariat  to  the  hackamore  of  the 
bay  horse,  and,  after  shaking  hands  with  every  one, 
started  off  down  the  valley  ;  while  Jack,  somewhat 
moved  at  the  parting,  shook  hands  very  earnestly 
with  all,  and  then,  riding  out  on  the  hillside,  drove 
the  three  pack  horses  after  Hugh.  Once  or  twice  he 
turned  about  in  his  saddle  and  took  off  his  hat  and 
waved  it  to  the  little  group  standing  together  by  the 
bunk-house,  who  waved  their  hands  or  their  handker- 
chiefs in  response. 

"  Dear  me !  "  said  Mrs.  Carter,  as  the  figures  grew 
smaller  and  smaller,  as  they  rode  down  the  valley,  "  it 
does  seem  a  shame  to  let  a  baby  like  that  go  off  into 
the  Indian  country.  I'll  bet  his  ma  don't  know  what 
risks  he's  taking." 

''  Pshaw,"  said  Jo,  **  I  tell  you  that  boy's  as  good  as 
a  man  ;  I'd  rather  have  him  for  a  partner  than  a  heap 
o'  men  I  know  ;  and  the  old  man's  as  good  as  two 
men,  any  day  in  the  week.  You  bet  they'll  have  an 
awful  good  time,  and  won't  see  no  trouble.  I  just 
wish't  I  was  goin*  with  *em." 

''  No,"  said  Mr.  Sturgis,  *'  I  don't  think  they'll  have 
any  trouble  ;  Jack's  a  level-headed  fellow,  with  a  good 
deal  more  discretion  than  most  boys  of  his  age. 
There's  a  bare  chance  of  course  that  they  may  meet 
some  hostile  Indians,  but  they're  well  mounted,  and  I 
don't  think  they'll  have  trouble." 

For  the  first  two  or  three  miles  after  their  start  the 
horses  went  on  very  well,  but  about  the  middle  of  the 
morning,  those  that  Jack  was  driving  began  to  give 
him  a  little  trouble.  They  were  now  getting  into  a 
country  away  from  their  usual  range,  and  began  to  try 


THE  START.  31 

to  turn  about  and  go  home,  and  for  the  next  half  hour 
Jack  was  pretty  busily  employed  turning  back  one 
after  another  that  fell  out  of  line  and  tried  to  retrace 
its  steps.  At  length  Hugh  halted  and  dismounted, 
and  motioning  Jack  to  drive  the  pack  horses  by  him, 
they  sat  down,  and  while  Hugh  smoked,  had  a  little  talk. 

"  Are  they  bothering  you  much  ?  "  asked  Hugh. 

"  Yes,"  said  Jack,  ''  they  keep  trying  to  go  back  all 
the  time  ;  and  that  Dun  is  the  worst  of  the  bunch ;  he 
just  won't  go  on." 

"  Well,  we'll  have  to  try  to  shove  him  along  as  far 
as  Powell's  place,  and  when  they  get  a  little  tired, 
toward  afternoon,  likely  they'll  go  better.  I  wouldn't 
be  surprised  though  if  it  wouldn't  be  a  good  idea  for 
us  to  borrow  a  horse  from  Powell,  for  you  to  ride  dur- 
ing the  day.  I  don't  want  you  to  run  Pawnee  down, 
chasing  horses  ;  I  want  to  bring  him  into  t*he  Piegan 
camp  fat,  because  I  expect  you'll  do  all  your  buffalo 
running  on  him.  He's  fat  and  strong  now,  and  you 
don't  weigh  much,  but  still  its  pretty  hard  work  run- 
ning here  and  there,  trying  to  keep  a  bunch  of  horses 
together,  even  if  there's  only  three  or  four  of  *em." 

**  Yes,"  said  Jack,  "  I  want  to  keep  Pawnee  in  good 
shape,  but  I  think  that  after  the  horses  get  used  to 
their  loads,  and  get  used  to  travelling  together,  they'll 
go  better,  won't  they?  " 

"  I  expect  they  will,  and  we  needn't  make  up  our 
minds  about  getting  any  horse  until  we  get  to  Pow- 
ell's. Maybe  to-morrow  we'll  get  Charlie  to  ride  out 
with  us  for  two  or  three  hours,  and  help  drive  them 
horses.  I  expect  if  we  can  get  *em  started  right  to- 
morrow, they'll  go  along  pretty  good." 


32  JACK  AMOiNG  THE  INDIANS. 

After  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  they  mounted  and 
started  on  again.  The  horses  had  been  feeding  busily 
all  this  time,  and  now  when  they  were  driven  along 
after  the  lead  horse,  they  went  more  quietly,  and  made 
less  trouble.  Still,  the  day  seemed  a  long  one  to  Jack. 
They  passed  plenty  of  antelope  on  the  prairie,  but  he 
had  no  time  to  think  of  them  ;  he  felt  obliged  to 
watch  the  horses  constantly,  and  to  keep  them  as  close 
behind  Hugh  as  he  could.  The  prairie  was  full  of 
pleasant  sights  and  sounds,  but  there  was  no  chance 
for  him  to  enjoy  them. 

He  felt  very  glad  when,  late  in  the  afternoon,  the 
low  buildings  of  the  Powell  place  came  in  sight.  Half 
an  hour  later  they  were  near  enough  to  see  the  men 
working  about  the  house,  and  then  to  see  two  figures 
in  skirts  come  to  the  door  and  look  out  at  them,  and 
then  at  last  to  hear  the  delighted  whoop  of  Charlie 
and  the  cheery  greeting  of  Mr.  Powell,  as  they  came 
forward  to  shake  hands  with  them.  The  horses  were 
quickly  unpacked  and  put  in  the  pasture,  the  loads 
put  under  cover,  and  then  all  the  family  gathered 
around  Jack  and  Hugh  to  hear  the  news  from  the 
neighbouring  ranch. 

"So  you're  really  going  to  make  that  trip  you 
talked  about,  are  you.  Jack?"  said  Charlie.  *' I  tell 
you  I'd  give  all  my  old  boots  if  I  were  going  along." 

"  So  would  I  mine,  Charlie,"  Jack  replied.  "  I'll  bet 
we  could  have  a  good  time  together.  It's  a  great 
chance.  You  see,  we're  going  up  into  the  buffalo 
country,  and  we're  going  to  be  Avith  the  Indians,  and 
see  what  they  do  and  how  they  live.  There  ain't 
many  fellows  have  a  chance  like  this,  and  I  wish  you 
could  be  one  of  'em." 


THE  START.  33 

^'  Well,"  said  Charlie,  ''  I  know  I  can't;  I've  got  to 
stay  here  and  chase  around  over  this  prairie,  riding 
for  stock  and  killing  wolves,  when  I  might  be  going 
up  there  with  you.  It  seems  pretty  hard,  but  I  don't 
know  as  I  ought  to  complain.  I  know  father  needs 
me,  and  now  we're  just  getting  a  good  start  in  stock, 
and  if  I  were  to  go  away  he'd  have  to  hire  somebody 
to  take  my  place,  and  he  couldn't  afford  to  do  that. 
You  see,  father  ain't  like  your  uncle  ;  I  expect  your 
uncle's  a  pretty  rich  man,  but  father  ain't  got  anything 
except  what  you  see  here,  and  what  stock  we've  got 
out  on  the  range ;  then,  besides  that,"  he  added,  "  I 
don't  believe  mother  would  be  willing  to  have  me  go  ; 
she  thinks  it's  awful  dangerous  for  you  and  Hugh  to 
go  up  there  alone.  We  talked  about  that  often  last 
winter,  and  she  said  she  didn't  believe  your  mother'd 
ever  let  you  go." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  don't  believe  there's  much 
danger,  because  if  there  was.  Uncle  Will  wouldn't 
have  been  willing  to  have  me  go,  and  I  know  he 
wanted  me  to.  He  said  from  the  start  that  it  would 
be  a  mighty  good  thing  for  me  ;  and  then,  besides 
that,  Hugh  knows  so  much  about  Indians;  they  say 
that  he's  smarter  even  than  an  Indian  about  reading: 
the  signs  of  the  prairie,  and  telling  who  is  about,  and 
what's  likely  to  happen.  Uncle  Will  said  that  he 
never  would  think  of  letting  me  go  with  any  one  ex- 
cept Hugh,  for  he  thinks  Hugh  can  carry  a  person 
through  all  right  anywhere." 

''  I  guess  that's  so  ;  everybody  that  I  ever  heard 
talk  about  him  in  this  country  says  that  he's  the 
smartest  mountain  man  that  there  is.     Why,  last  fall, 


34  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

after  you  went  away,  old  Jim  Baker  and  his  brother 
John  passed  through  here,  and  they  asked  especially 
after  Hugh,  and  when  they  learned  that  he  was  work- 
ing over  at  your  uncle's,  they  turned  off  and  went 
over  there,  two  days'  travel  out  of  their  road,  to  see 
him.  Jim  Baker  didn't  say  anything,  he  never  talks 
at  all,  but  John  said  that  Hugh  was  one  of  the  old 
kind  ;  that  there  were  only  a  few  of  them  left  now  in 
the  mountains,  and  he  wanted  to  see  Hugh,  and  so 
did  his  brother." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  we're  going  to  make  the  trip, 
and  I  believe  we're  going  to  get  through  all  right,  and 
not  have  a  bit  of  trouble,  and  I  wish  you  were  going 
with  us." 

"  So  do  I  wish  it,  but  I  know  I  ain't,  so  it's  no  use 
crying  over  it." 

Lying  about  the  Powell  house  Jack  saw  two  of  the 
wolf  puppies  that  he  had  helped  dig  out  the  summer 
before.  They  seemed  tame  enough,  a  good  deal  like 
big  dogs,  but  they  did  not  make  friends  with  strangers, 
as  dogs  would  have  done,  but  instead,  moved  off  out 
of  the  way.  With  Charlie  and  Bess,  however,  they 
seemed  on  very  good  terms,  and  very  grateful  for  any 
petting  or  attention.  The  sight  of  these  great  beasts 
made  Jack  think  a  little  sadly  of  his  own  wolf,  Swift- 
foot,  far  away  in  New  York. 

Bess,  too,  talked  with  Jack  about  the  trip  that  he 
was  making,  and  seemed  to  feel  a  little  uneasy  about 
its  possible  dangers,  while  Mrs.  Powell  said  she  thought 
it  a  shame  that  Jack  should  be  allowed  to  ^o  away  off 
among  the  Indians,  where  she  was  sure  he  was  going 
to  be  killed. 


THE  START.  35 

Hugh  laughed  at  her  doleful  prophecies,  and  said, 
♦*  Why,  Mrs.  Powell,  there  ain't  a  mite  o'  danger.  I 
wasn't  much  older  than  Jack  when  I  first  came  out  into 
this  country,  and  I've  been  travelling  about  now  for 
more  than  forty  years,  and  nothing's  ever  happened  to 
me.  It  seems  strange  that  a  sensible  woman  like  you 
should  have  such  queer  ideas." 

The  journey  formed  the  principal  topic  of  conversa- 
tion that  evening,  but  Hugh  and  Jack  remembered  to 
tell  Mr.  Powell  about  the  cow  that  had  been  killed  as 
they  were  riding  out  two  days  before,  and  about  the 
swift  punishment  that  had  fallen  on  the  two  wolves. 
When  bedtime  came,  Hugh  and  Jack  spread  their 
blankets  on  the  kitchen  floor,  and  were  soon  sleeping 
soundly. 

Next  morning  Hugh  asked  Mr.  Powell  if  he  could 
spare  them  a  saddle  horse,  and  if  he  would  let  Charlie 
ride  a  few  miles  with  them,  until  they  learned  how 
the  animals  could  travel  on  this  second  day.  If  they 
went  well,  the  horse  could  be  sent  back  by  Charlie, 
but  if  it  was  necessary  to  keep  it.  Jack  would  send 
back  a  note,  asking  his  uncle  to  furnish  Mr.  Powell 
with  a  horse  to  take  its  place  through  the  summer. 

This  morning  the  horses  took  their  loads  better. 
The  Dun  bucked  a  little,  but  not  nearly  so  much  as 
the  day  before,  while  the  other  horses,  as  soon  as  their 
loads  were  put  on  and  they  were  turned  loose,  began 
to  feed  quite  contentedly.  Jack  and  Charlie  packed 
on  the  off  side,  both  pulling  at  the  ropes,  but  Jack 
arranging  them,  under  Charlie's  direction.  When 
they  started,  the  animals  fell  into  line  very  promptly, 
and  walked  briskly  along  close  behind  the  lead  horse. 


36  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

They  gave  no  trouble  whatever,  and  seemed  to  have 
made  up  their  minds  that  they  were  going  somewhere, 
and  must  follow  Hugh.  So  about  the  middle  of  the 
morning  Hugh  told  Charlie  that  it  was  not  necessary 
for  him  to  come  any  further,  and  that  they  would  not 
need  to  take  along  the  extra  horse.  So  they  shook 
hands  there,  and  Charlie  rode  off  back  to  the  ranch  at 
a  gallop,  while  the  pack  train  started  on  its  journey 
north.  Jack  felt  now  as  if  they  were  really  cut  off, 
for  he  knew  that  they  would  probably  not  see  a  white 
face  again  until  they  reached  the  far-away  Missouri 
River. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   FIRST   FRESH   MEAT. 

All  day  long  the  two  travelled  steadily  forward, 
stopping  only  once  or  twice  to  look  at  the  packs,  and 
to  smoke.  The  pack  horses  followed  their  leader 
pretty  well,  and  gave  Jack  little  trouble,  so  that  he 
was  free  to  look  about  him  and  enjoy  the  bright  sun, 
the  cool  breeze,  and  the  birds  and  animals  that  from 
time  to  time  showed  themselves  near  them.  There 
was  no  trail,  but  Hugh  seemed  to  be  travelling  north 
without  any  land  marks  to  guide  him.  During  one  of 
their  halts  Jack  asked  Hugh  where  they  would  camp 
that  night. 

*'  Well,  we  can  camp  most  anywhere,  for  we'll  find 
plenty  of  water  toward  the  end  of  the  afternoon.  We'll 
either  come  on  La  Bonte,  or  on  some  little  creek  run- 
ning into  it.  There's  good  feed  anywhere,  and  wood 
enough  for  us,  too.  I  reckon  we'll  have  to  picket  all 
the  horses  to-night,  and  maybe  every  night  for  the 
next  week,  but  after  that  it  will  be  enough  if  we  picket 
three  of  'em,  and  let  the  other  three  drag  their  ropes. 
After  they  once  get  used  to  being  together  they  ain't 
none  of  'em  likely  to  wander  off,  without  the  whole 
bunch  goes." 

"  It  would  be  pretty  bad  if  we  were  to  lose  our 
horses,  wouldn't  it,  Hugh  ?" 


38  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

*'  It  sure  would,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  there's  mighty 
few  things  that's  worse  than  being  left  afoot  on  the 
prairie.  I  often  wonder  how  it  was  in  the  old  times, 
when  one  of  the  Companies  would  send  a  man  off  to 
go  on  foot  two  or  three  hundred  miles,  with  no  grub, 
and  one  blanket  and  a  copper  kettle,  and  maybe 
twelve  balls." 

"  How  do  you  mean,  Hugh  ;  twelve  balls?" 

"  Why,  don't  you  know,"  said  Hugh,  *'  in  them  days, 
when  a  man  worked  for  one  of  the  Fur  Companies 
they  only  gave  him  just  so  much  powder  and  lead. 
Of  course,  ammunition  came  high  then,  and  they 
might  send  a  man  off  to  make  a  long  journey  on  foot 
and  not  give  him  any  grub,  and  just  six  or  eight  or  ten 
charges  for  his  gun,  expecting  him  to  kill  whatever  he 
ate.  Travelling  in  this  country  in  them  days  couldn't 
have  been  much  fun." 

"  I  should  think  not.  But  suppose  such  a  man  met 
Indians,  and  had  to  fight ;  what  would  he  do  then  ?  " 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  them  men  didn't  calculate  to 
fight ;  they  calculated  to  keep  out  of  sight ;  and  then 
the  Indians  weren't  right  mean  then.  If  they  found  a 
fellow  travelling  on  the  prairie  they'd  charge  up  to  him 
and  scare  him  about  half  to  death,  but  likely  they 
wouldn't  hurt  him.  Maybe  they'd  just  talk  to  him 
and  let  him  go,  or  at  worst  they'd  take  his  gun  and  his 
clothes,  everything  that  he  had,  and  turn  him  loose." 

*'  But  then  I  should  think  he'd  starve  to  death." 

"  Well,  I  expect  maybe  a  good  many  men  did  starve 
to  death  that  nobody  ever  heard  of.  It's  a  sure  thing 
that  lots  of  men  started  out  to  go  from  one  place  to 
another,  and  never  got  to  the  other  place." 


THE  FIRST  FRESH  MEAT.  39 

*'  Did  you  ever  have  to  do  that,  Hugh  ?  "  said  Jack. 

"  No,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  never  did.  Fact  is,  I  never 
worked  regular  for  no  fur  company,  I  was  always  a  free 
trapper,  as  they  called  it,  until  beaver  went  out,  and 
trapping  was  over ;  then  I  hired  out  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  took  parties  of  troops  around  over  the 
country,  fellows  that  were  making  maps  ;  and  some 
seasons  I  guided  emigrant  trains,  and  hunted  for  posts. 
One  or  two  years  I  traded  with  Indians,  working  for 
Bent  and  St.  Vrain.  I  liked  that  about  as  well  as  any 
work  I  ever  did.  Then  presently  the  railroad  came 
along,  and  I  got  work  with  them  ;  and  by-and-by  I 
settled  down  to  kind  o'  learn  the  cow-punching  trade, 
and  here  I  am  to-day." 

"  My,  Hugh !  you  must  have  seen  an  awful  lot  in 
all  this  time.  How  many  years  is  it  since  you  first 
came  out?  " 

'*  It'll  be  forty-three  years  next  August  since  I 
started  from  old  Kentucky.  I  was  sixteen  years  old 
then,  and  that  same  fall  I  got  out  to  St.  Joe,  and  I 
have  been  travelling  the  prairie  ever  since." 

"  Forty-three  years  ago  !  "  said  Jack,  thoughtfully  ; 
**  then  you  must  be  fifty-nine." 

''  Yes,  I  am  fifty-nine  years  old,  and  I  expect  I  look 
it,  don't  I  ?  " 

"Yes,  you  do  look  pretty  old,  but  I  think  that's  be- 
cause your  hair  and  beard  are  white  ;  your  face  doesn't 
look  old." 

"  Well,  I'm  old  enough  to  have  learned  a  heap,  and 
I  expect  if  I  was  fifteen  years  old  to-day,  and  knowed 
as  much  as  I  know  now,  and  was  back  in  old  Kentucky, 
I'd  stop  right  there." 


40  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

The  sun  was  drawing  toward  the  western  horizon 
when,  on  riding  over  the  crest  of  the  hill,  Jack  saw  a 
mile  or  two  before  him  a  long  winding  line  of  dark 
green,  which  he  knew  to  be  the  timber  that  marked  the 
course  of  a  stream.  Many  antelope  were  feeding  on 
the  slope  down  which  they  passed,  and  these  seemed 
to  be  quite  fearless,  and  moved  out  of  the  way  slowly 
as  the  train  drew  near  them.  The  stream  was  a  small 
one,  but  flowed  through  a  wide,  level  bottom,  and 
Hugh,  directing  his  course  toward  a  group  of  cotton- 
wood  trees,  drew  up  under  them,  dismounted,  and 
throwing  down  his  bridle  rein,  said,  "  Let's  camp." 

In  a  very  short  time  the  loads  were  taken  from  the 
animals,  and  piled  on  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  one 
of  the  trees  ;  the  saddles  were  placed  on  the  packs, 
and  the  blankets  upsidedown  on  the  saddles,  so  that 
any  moisture  on  them  might  dry,  and  the  mantas  were 
thrown  on  the  ground  nearby,  and  would  be  used  at 
night  to  cover  the  riggings  and  the  goods,  so  as  to 
protect  them  from  wet  in  case  of  rain.  A  lariat  was 
tied  to  the  neck  of  each  horse,  and  they  were  allowed 
to  wander  at  will  over  the  bottom,  except  old  Baldy, 
whose  rope  was  tied  to  a  bush. 

"  It's  a  pretty  good  thing,"  Hugh  explained,  "  to 
have  one  horse  anchored  where  you  know  you  can  get 
at  him.  Might  be  such  a  thing  that  something  would 
scare  these  horses  and  they'd  all  take  off  over  the 
bluffs,  but  if  we've  got  one  riding  "horse  where  we  can 
put  our  hands  on  him,  we  can  get  'em  back  easy 
enough,  while  if  we  had  to  chase  *em  afoot  it  might  be 
a  long,  slow  business.  Now,  son,"  he  went  on,  ''  you 
take  this  kettle  and  get  a  bucket  o'  water,  and  I'll 
start  a  fire,  and  we'll  have  some  supper." 


THE  FIRST  FRESH  MEAT.  41 

Jack  picked  up  the  bucket  and  started  down  to  the 
stream,  but  before  he  had  taken  a  half  dozen  steps 
Hugh  called  him  back. 

*'  I  guess  you've  forgot  something,  ain't  you?"  he 
said  ;  and  then  when  Jack  looked  puzzled,  he  went  on 
to  say,  "  Now,  son,  Fve  got  to  say  over  again  to  you 
something  that  I  said  last  summer  ;  that's  a  long  time 
ago,  and  I  don't  much  wonder  you  forgot  it.  We're 
going  into  a  strange  country  now,  and  we  may  meet 
strange  people,  maybe  enemies,  so  you'd  better  just 
get  into  the  way  of  packing  your  gun  around  with  you 
wherever  you  go,  it  ain't  a  very  heavy  load  to  carry, 
and  you  may  want  it  bad  some  time." 

Jack  had  not  taken  off  his  cartridge  belt,  and  he 
stepped  over  and  picked  up  his  rifle,  and  then  went 
and  got  the  water.  By  the  time  he  had  returned, 
Hugh  had  kindled  a  fire  and  had  brought  quite  a  pile 
of  wood,  and  Jack  helped  him  to  gather  more  ;  so  that 
before  long  they  had  more  than  they  could  use  during 
the  night.  It  did  not  take  long  to  cook  their  simple 
supper,  which  consisted  only  of  bacon,  bread  and 
coffee.  While  they  were  doing  it,  Hugh  remarked, 
*'I  don't  beheve  it's  going  to  rain  to-night,  and  I  don't 
think  it's  worth  while  to  put  up  a  tent,  unless  you 
want  it." 

"  No  indeed,"  said  Jack,  "  I'd  rather  sleep  in  the 
open  air,  unless  we're  likely  to  have  a  storm." 

"  Well,  let  it  go  at  that. 

''  Now,  there's  one  thing  we've  got  to  do,  and  that 
is  to  keep  a  lot  of  picket  pins  on  hand  until  these 
horses  get  wonted.  I  put  a  half  dozen  hard  wood  pins 
in  the  gunny  sack  in  the  mess  box,  but  we'll  be  losing 


42  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

them  right  along,  and  I  believe  Fll  go  to  work  on  an 
old  lodge  pole  that's  lying  over  here  in  the  brush  and 
make  some  pins  for  to-night.  You  might  go  out  and 
get  around  them  horses  and  start  them  back  this  way  ; 
they're  working  too  far  up  the  creek.  Don't  chase 
'em  or  scare  'em  ;  just  go  around  'em  and  drive  'em 
slowly  until  you  get  their  heads  turned  this  way.  If 
you  should  see  a  buck  antelope  on  the  way,  you  might 
kill  him,  if  you  can,  and  we'll  put  him  on  one  of  the 
packs  and  take  him  along." 

"I'd  like  to  do  that,  Hugh,  but  there  ain't  much 
likelihood  of  seeing  an  antelope  down  in  the  bottom, 
is  there  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Hugh  ;  "  you  might  see 
one  ;  or  you  might  jump  a  deer  out  of  some  of  this 
brush.  Doa't  kill  a  doe,  though  ;  she  won't  be  no  ac- 
count to  eat ;  and  don't  go  too  far,  and  mind  you 
keep  your  eye  out  for  signs.  If  you  see  any  people,  or 
sign  of  where  people's  been  lately,  get  back  to  camp 
as  quick  as  you  can." 

The  horses  had  been  feeding  away  from  camp,  and 
some  of  them  were  already  hidden  among  the  under- 
brush that  grew  in  the  valley.  Jack  walked  over  to 
the  foot  of  the  bluffs,  and  up  the  stream  half  a  mile, 
and  then,  having  got  beyond  the  horses,  he  walked 
quietly  toward  them,  turned  them  down  the  stream 
toward  camp,  followed  them  to  the  edge  of  the 
brush,  and  saw  that  they  were  now  busily  feeding  in 
the  right  direction  ;  then  he  turned  about  and  walked 
up  the  stream. 

He  had  not  gone  far  when  he  saw  in  the  sand  at  the 
edge  of  the  creek   the  tracks  of   two  deer,   one   set 


THE  FIRST  FRESH   MEAT.  43 

quite  large,  and  the  other  rather  small.  He  looked 
carefully  about  him  in  all  directions  but  could  see 
nothing,  though  the  tracks  seemed  quite  fresh.  Keep- 
ing on  up  the  stream,  walking  very  quietly,  stopping 
often  to  look  all  about  hjm,  he  came  to  the  edge  of 
a  little  meadow,  almost  surrounded  by  bushes,  and 
there,  as  he  paused  before  stepping  out  of  the  brush, 
he  saw  near  the  other  side,  two  deer. 

Luckily  for  him,  the  gentle  breeze  was  blowing 
down  the  stream,  and  so  the  deer  did  not  smell  him. 
When  he  first  saw  them  their  heads  were  down,  and 
what  first  caught  his  eye  was  the  rapid  side-wise 
motion  of  the  white  tail  of  one  of  the  animals.  Al- 
most as  he  stopped,  the  deer  raised  their  heads, 
looked  about  for  a  moment,  and  then  began  to  feed 
again.  He  could  see  that  both  of  them  had  small 
horns,  and  yet  one  seemed  quite  a  large  deer.  They 
were  not  far  off,  only  about  sixty  yards,  and  Jack 
quietly  dropped  on  his  knee,  slipped  a  cartridge  into 
his  gun,  and  made  ready  to  fire.  He  hesitated  a 
little,  for  both  deer  stood  with  their  hips  almost  to- 
ward him,  and  he  hoped  that  in  a  moment  or  two 
they  might  change  their  positions,  so  as  to  give  him  a 
broadside  shot.  Presently  that  very  thing  happened  ; 
the  larger  deer  turned  a  little  to  the  left,  and  then  still 
more,  so  that  its  shoulder  and  side  presented  a  fair 
mark.  The  next  time  that  it  raised  its  head  and 
stood  quite  still,  Jack  drew  a  very  fine  bead  on  it,  be- 
hind the  shoulder  and  low  down,  and  fired. 

The  deer  leaped  high  into  the  air,  and  with  two  or 
three  graceful  bounds,  disappeared  into  the  under- 
brush,  followed   by  its  companion.     ''I  wonder   if    I 


44  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

missed  it,"  thought  Jack ;  "  it  don't  seem  possible  that 
I  could  have  done  that,  for  it  was  standing  still,  and  I 
don't  think  I  felt  a  particle  nervous.  I  believe  I'll  go 
over  there  and  try  to  follow  their  tracks  a  little  way, 
anyhow." 

When  he  had  reached  the  place  where  the  deer  had 
been  standing,  their  hoof-prints  were  plain  in  the  soil, 
and  following  the  direction  they  had  gone,  he  saw 
other  deep  tracks,  where  they  had  made  long  leaps. 
He  was  so  interested  in  following  these  tracks,  that 
he  almost  forgot  the  question  of  whether  he  had  missed 
or  not,  but  suddenly,  to  his  surprise,  as  he  was 
puzzling  out  the  tracks,  he  saw  that  the  leaves  of  the 
brush,  through  which  he  was  passing,  were  smeared 
with  blood.  '' By  jimminy  !"  thought  Jack,  "I  did 
hit  him !  And  now  I  wonder  if  I  can  find  him." 
Looking  carefully  both  for  blood  and  tracks,  he  soon 
saw  that  the  deer  was  bleeding  freely,  and  that  he 
need  no  longer  look  for  tracks,  since  the  blood  on  the 
underbrush  and  the  grass  and  weeds  was  a  constant 
guide  to  him.  He  had  gone  only  forty  or  fifty  yards, 
though  to  him  it  seemed  much  longer,  when  suddenly 
he  stepped  out  of  the  brush  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs, 
and  saw,  lying  a  few  yards  before  him,  the  deer, 
dead  on  the  grass.  The  other  deer  was  standing 
nearby,  looking  back,  as  if  puzzled,  and  Jack  was 
strongly  tempted  to  take  a  shot  at  it,  but  he  reflected 
that  one  deer  was  more  than  they  could  use,  and  that 
it  would  be  wasteful  as  well  as  cruel  to  kill  a  sec- 
ond. 

As  Jack  stepped  out  into  the  open,  the  other 
deer   stood  for  a   moment  looking  at  him,  and  then 


THE  FIRST  FRESH  MEAT.  45 

trotted  off  up  the  slope,  stopping  once  or  twice  with- 
in easy  shot,  and  looking  back,  but  at  last  disappeared 
over  the  hilltop.  The  deer  on  the  ground  was  quite 
dead,  and  the  position  of  the  bullet  hole  showed 
that  it  must  have  been  shot  through  the  heart. 

Jack  drew  his  butcher  knife  from  its  sheath,  bled 
the  deer,  and  began  to  butcher  it.  He  had  often 
seen  this  done  by  other  people,  but  this  was  the  first 
attempt  at  it  that  he  had  ever  made,  and  he  found  it 
not  so  easy  as  it  looked.  He  worked  slowly  and  awk- 
wardly, and  once  was  tempted  to  give  the  job  up, 
and  go  back  and  get  Hugh  to  do  it.  Still,  he  per- 
severed, and  although  now  the  sun  had  set,  he  was 
still  cutting  and  pulling,  absorbed  in  his  task,  when  a 
voice  at  his  elbow  said,  "  Well,  you've  got  some  meat, 
I  see  ;  "  and  looking  up,  he  saw  Hugh  standing  by  him. 

"  I  heard  you  shoot,"  said  Hugh,  "and  when  you 
didn't  come  back,  I  allowed  you  might  have  trouble 
getting  your  meat  into  camp,  and  so  I  came  along. 
Now,  it's  getting  late  and  you'd  better  let  me  finish 
that  job." 

"  I  wish  you  would,  Hugh  ;  it's  the  first  animal  I 
ever  butchered,  and  though  I've  seen  you  do  it  a 
good  many  times,  I  find  I  don't  know  how." 

"  Well,  it  does  look  a  little  bit  as  if  the  rats  had 
been  gnawing  at  it."  He  took  out  his  own  knife  and 
made  a  few  quick  cuts,  which  finished  the  work  ;  then, 
cutting  off  the  deer's  head  he  laid  his  rifie  on  the 
ground,  lifted  the  carcass  on  his  back,  and  then,  tell- 
ing Jack  to  hand  him  the  rifle,  which  he  rested  across 
the  deer's  legs  before  him,  he  strode  off  toward 
camp. 


46  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

When  they  reached  camp,  Jack  saw  that  the  six 
horses  were  picketed  close  at  hand  ;  that  the  beds  were 
unrolled  and  spread  out  on  the  ground,  beneath  one 
of  the  larger  trees,  and  that  the  fire  was  burning 
cheerily. 

*'  Now,"  said  Hugh,  as  he  threw  the  deer's  carcass  on 
the  ground,  ''  let's  get  the  jacket  off  this  fellow,  and 
hang  him  up  in  the  tree  to  cool." 

The  operation  of  skinning  the  deer  and  hanging  it 
up  did  not  take  long,  but  before  this  was  ended,  night 
had  fallen.  Hugh  lighted  his  pipe,  and  then  sat  by 
the  fire  for  a  little  while,  staring  at  it,  and  Jack  lay  at 
full  length  beside  him,  and  as  they  sat  there,  told 
Hugh  about  how  he  had  found  and  killed  the  deer. 

"  Well,  son,"  said  the  old  man,  '*  I'm  mighty  glad 
we  got  that  meat ;  it'll  make  things  a  heap  more  com- 
fortable for  us  for  the  next  few  days.  Now,  we  want 
to  go  to  bed  pretty  quick,  and  get  all  the  sleep  we 
can.  You  know  the  nights  are  pretty  short  this  time 
o'  year,  and  we  want  to  be  up  by  daylight  to-morrow 
morning  and  change  them  horses  to  fresh  grass,  and 
let  *em  feed  while  we're  getting  breakfast ;  and  then 
as  soon  as  we're  through,  pack  up  and  get  started  again. 
We've  got  along  way  to  go,  and  the  quicker  we  get  to 
the  Piegan  camp  the  better  I'll  be  suited.  We're 
likely  to  have  plenty  of  delays  on  the  road,  and  I  want 
to  make  the  best  time  I  can.'* 


CHAPTER  VI. 

INDIANS   OF   OLD   TIMES. 

The  next  morning  they  were  up  bright  and  early. 
The  horses  were  all  standing  where  they  had  been 
picketed  the  night  before,  and  after  the  fire  was 
kindled,  Jack  and  Hugh  went  to  them,  took  up  the 
picket  pins,  and  moved  each*horse  so  that  he  might 
have  fresh  grass  to  eat;  then  while  Hugh  prepared 
breakfast,  Jack  rolled  up  the  beds  and  prepared  all  the 
camp  furniture  except  the  mess  kit  for  packing. 
When  they  loaded  the  horses  the  carcass  of  the  deer 
was  put  on  one  of  the  packs,  and  presently  they 
started  off  down  the  creek.  That  night  they  camped 
at  the  Platte  River,  and  the  next  morning  crossed  it, 
and  kept  on  north. 

For  many  days  they  travelled  northward,  crossing 
some  small  streams,  and  then  coming  to  the  head  of 
Powder  River,  and  journeying  along  the  divide  on  its 
east  side.  The  marches  that  they  made  were  not 
very  long.  The  grass  was  good,  there  was  plenty  of 
water,  and  the  loads  were  light  ;  so  that  their  horses 
kept  in  good  condition  and  moved  along  briskly. 
After  two  or  three  nights  Hugh  picketed  only  four  of 
the  horses,  permitting  two  to  drag  their  ropes,  and 
when  morning  came  these  two  were  found  with  the 
others.     A  little  later  he  freed  one  more,  and  at  last 


48  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

another  one,  so  that  finally  there  were  only  two  horses 
confined  at  night.  These  were  not  always  the  same 
two,  but  usually  the  two  riding  horses  were  the  ones 
on  picket. 

They  made  some  slight  changes  in  the  packs,  mak- 
ing two  of  them  lighter  and  two  heavier ;  and  then, 
sometimes  Jack,  instead  of  riding  Pawnee,  let  him 
carry  a  light  pack,  and  rode  the  bay,  while  Hugh 
sometimes  changed  off  to  the  dun  or  to  the  paint 
horse.  One  day  when  their  stock  of  fresh  meat  was 
running  low,  since  the  deer  had  been  almost  eaten  up, 
Hugh  killed  a  buck  antelope,  which  was  in  fair  order  ; 
but  they  did  no  hunting,  and  travelled  steadily. 

One  afternoon  they  camped  on  a  small  fork  of 
Powder  River,  and  after  camp  had  been  made  and  the 
horses  picketed,  Hugh  proposed  that  they  should  take 
a  little  walk  to  the  top  of  a  high  hill  not  far  off,  and 
see  what  could  be  seen.  They  started,  going  rather 
slowly,  and  stopping  every  now  and  then  to  look  over 
the  country  with  the  field  glass  that  Hugh  carried. 
Nothing  was  seen  except  the  wild  animals  of  the 
prairie,  and  when  they  reached  the  top  of  the  hill  they 
sat  down  and  took  a  long,  long  look.  Hugh  was  care- 
fully examining  some  distant  object  to  the  north  when 
he  felt  himself  pushed  by  Jack,  and  glancing  around, 
saw  that  he  was  lying  flat  on  the  ground.  Hugh  very 
slowly  lowered  his  head,  and  turning,  looked  in  the 
direction  in  which  Jack  pointed.  Coming  up  out  of 
the  ravine  not  far  away,  he  saw  a  good  sized  grizzly 
bear,  and  following  her,  two  little  cubs.  The  cubs 
were  still  very  small,  and  were  cunning  little  creatures. 
They  ran  about  fast  yet  clumsily,  sometimes  attacked 


INDIANS  OF  OLD  TIMES.  49 

each  other  and  had  a  pretended  fight,  stood  up  on 
their  hind  legs  and  sparred  at  each  other  with  their 
front  paws,  and  then  one  chased  the  other  as  he  ran 
wildly  off  over  the  hillside.  Every  now  and  then  the 
mother  would  stop  to  look  at  them,  and  she  seemed 
to  take  pleasure  in  their  high  spirits.  Now  and  then 
she  stood  up  on  her  hind  legs  and  looked  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  she  was  now  so  close  to  the  top  of  the  hill 
that  they  could  see  her  wrinkle  her  nose  as  she  sniffed 
the  air.  Jack  whispered  to  Hugh, ''Ain't  they  beau- 
ties !  Wouldn't  I  like  to  have  them  back  at  the  ranch. 
There's  no  way  we  could  catch  'em  and  take  'em  along, 
is  there  ?  " 

**  No,"  whispered  Hugh;  "the  only  thing  you  can 
do  is  to  kill  'em." 

"  By  Jove,  I  don't  want  to  do  that ;  they're  too  cun- 
ning." 

The  little  family  was  now  quite  near  the  top  of  the 
hill,  but  was  passing  around  it.  Again  the  mother 
stood  on  her  hind  legs  to  look,  and  while  she  was 
doing  this  one  of  the  cubs  rushed  up  in  front  of  her 
and  sprang  into  the  air,  grasping  her  around  the  chest 
and  the  mother  closed  her  arms  about  it  and  put  her 
head  down.  The  whole  act  seemed  like  the  springing 
of  a  child  into  its  mother's  arrns,  and  the  mother  kiss- 
ing the  child. 

''  By  mighty  !  "  said  Hugh,  "  I  can't  shoot  at  that 
bear,  and  I  don't  believe  you  can  either,  son." 

*'  Not  much,  we'll  let  them  go," 

They  lay  there  and  watched  the  bears  go  around 
the  hill,  and  presently  the  old  one  saw  the  horses  and 
the   camp    equipage    far   below   in   the   valley.     She 


50  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

stood  on  her  hind  legs  and  looked  for  a  long  time,  evi- 
dently much  puzzled  as  to  what  these  strange  objects 
were,  but  after  looking  for  awhile  she  came  down  on 
all  fours  again,  called  her  young  ones  to  her  by  a  low 
cry,  trotted  off  around  the  hill  out  of  sight,  and  then 
made  her  way  back  as  she  had  come. 

They  watched  her  for  a  long  time,  until  she  was 
hidden  behind  the  swells  of  the  prairie,  and  then  Jack 
sat  up  and  said  to  Hugh,  "  That's  the  prettiest  thing 
I  ever  saw,  and  I  don't  feel  as  if  I  ever  could  shoot  at 
a  bear  again  after  seeing  it." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''  that's  saying  a  good  deal, 
but  I  tell  you  I  wouldn't  have  shot  at  that  bear  for  a 
farm." 

The  sun  was  low  when  they  reached  camp  on  their 
return.  They  had  eaten  when  they  made  camp,  but 
Hugh  said  that  he  believed  that  Jack  could  eat  again, 
and  they  cooked  a  little  meat  and  warmed  up  some  of 
the  coffee  that  was  in  the  pot,  and  made  up  a  good 
fire,  by  which  they  sat  for  a  long  time. 

Hueh  said,  "  I  reckon  this  is  about  the  last  regular 
camp  fire  we  can  have.  We're  getting  up  into  the 
country  now  where  we're  liable  to  run  across  -Indians, 
and  while  I  don't  think  there's  a  mite  of  danger  to  be 
looked  for  from  any  of  'em,  still  I'd  just  as  leave  they 
wouldn't  see  us." 

"What  Indians  live  in  this  country,  Hugh?" 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''  the  fact  is  it's  Cheyenne  coun- 
try, but  Sioux  and  Cheyennes  live  here,  and  Crows  come 
into  it ;  fact  is,  it's  a  kind  of  anybodys'  country.  The 
Piegans  come  down  here  and  make  war  on  the  Crows 
and  Cheyennes,  and  in  old  times  the  Pawnees  used  to 


INDIANS  OF  OLD  TIMES.  51 

come  up  here  on  their  war  journeys.  YouVe  got  to 
keep  your  eye  open  here  for  all  sorts  of  Indians." 

"  Well,  Hugh,  these  Indians  haven't  always  been 
hostile,  have  they  ?  " 

'*  Not  so  ;  there  was  a  long  time  when  they  were 
friendly  with  everybody.  It  was  only  after  white 
people  began  to  come  into  the  country  and  make 
trouble  of  one  sort  and  another  that  the  Indians  got 
bad.  You  see,  the  white  people  didn't  know  nothing 
about  Indians,  and  had  a  kind  of  an  idea  that  the 
whites  owned  the  whole  country,  and  the  Indians 
thought  that  they  owned  it,  because  they  always  had, 
up  to  that  time;  and  then  there  was  young  men 
that  stole  white  men's  horses  and  likely  some  of  'em 
got  killed ;  so  that,  on  the  whole,  you  can  easy  see 
how  the  wars  began ;  they  started  about  twenty-five 
years  ago.  Up  to  that  time  the  tribes  had  been  all 
pretty  friendly.  I  won't  say  that  there  wasn't  bad 
young  men  that  did  bad  things,  but  the  old  men 
didn't  approve  of  that,  and  when  they  could  catch 
their  young  men  doing  anything  o'  that  sort  they'd 
punish  them.  Why,  from  185 1  to  1854,  I  was  trading 
with  Indians  right  along;   that  is,  in  winter." 

"  I  wish  you*d  tell  me  about  that,  Hugh." 

"  Why,  sure,  I'll  tell  you  all  there  is  to  tell.  I  hired 
out  to  old  Corcoran  one  fall.  He  had  a  trading  post 
down  on  the  Platte,  a  little  way  east  of  the  forks,  and 
the  Indians  used  to  come  in  there  sometimes,  but 
there  was  other  posts,  and  he  didn't  get  as  much 
trade  as  he  thought  he  ought  to  ;  so  he  hired  me  to 
travel  around  to  the  camps,  and  stop  with  the  Indians 
and  trade  with  them,  and    fetch  in  what   furs  I  got  to 


52  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

the  post.  I  started  out  that  first  winter  with  a  big 
wagon,  hauled  by  bulls,  and  with  quite  a  lot  o'  trade 
goods,  to  find  the  Cheyenne  camp.  I  remember  we'd 
heard  that  they  were  up  on  Horse  Creek,  and  I  started 
up  there.  It  took  me  a  long  time  to  get  there,  for 
bulls  don't  travel  very  fast,  you  know,  and  when  I  got 
there  I  found  they'd  moved  over  onto  the  Platte,  so 
I  had  to  follow  'em  there,  and  when  I  got  there  they 
were  just  moving  out  to  go  further  up  the  stream,  to 
above  where  Fort  Laramie  stands,  and  I  had  to  trail 
along  with  'em.  However,  at  last  they  got  located 
for  the  winter,  and  I  went  into  Spotted  Wolf's  lodge 
and  lived  there  with  him.  After  I  got  there  and  un- 
packed my  goods.  Spotted  Wolf  sent  a  crier  out 
through  the  camp,  and  told  the  Indians  that  I  was 
there  and  ready  to  trade,  and  before  very  long  I  had 
my  store  agoing." 

*'  Well,  what  did  you  trade  to  them,  Hugh  ?  "  asked 
Jack. 

''  Well,  there's  one  thing  I  didn't  trade  to  'em,  and 
that  is  whiskey.  That  was  before  the  days  when  any- 
body thought  of  trading  liquor  to  the  Indians,  though 
of  course  now  and  then  in  a  fort  they  gave  a  man  a 
dram,  as  they  called  it ;  but  in  them  days  there  wasn't 
never  no  trading  of  liquor.  I  had  tobacco  and  red 
cloth,  and  beads  and  little  mirrors,  and  some  silver 
coins  that  they  used  to  hammer  out  plates  from  to 
wear  on  their  heads." 

"Oh,  I  know!  I've  seen  pictures  of  Indians  with 
great  silver  plates  on  their  scalp  locks,  and  big  ones 
at  the  top  and  little  ones  running  down  to  the  end." 

"  That's  it,  that's  just  what  I  mean.     Well,  I  lived 


INDIANS  OF  OLD  TIMES.  53 

pretty  near  the  whole  winter  in  that  camp.  The  In- 
dians had  plenty  of  dried  meat  and  back  fat,  and 
tongues,  and  we  lived  well.  Once  in  a  while  I'd  go 
out  up  into  the  hills  and  kill  a  deer,  or  a  couple  of 
antelope;  and  two  or  three  times  the  buffalo  came 
close  to  the  camp,  in  good  weather,  so  that  we  made  a 
killing ;  so  we  had  fresh  meat  during  a  good  part  of 
the  winter.  Along  in  the  end  of  February  or  first  of 
March  I  had  all  the  robes  and  furs  that  my  team  could 
haul,  and  I  started  back.  I'd  taken  a  half  breed  boy 
with  me  to  drive  the  bulls,  and  we  got  along  all  right 
till  we  got  down  pretty  close  to  Scott's  Bluffs.  When 
we  got  there  I  noticed  that  one  of  the  bulls  was  kind 
of  sick.  I  didn't  know  what  was  the  matter  with  him. 
We  drove  along  till  night,  and  camped,  and  the  next 
morning  that  bull  was  dead.  We  went  on,  and  the 
next  day  two  more  of  the  bulls  seemed  sick,  and  the 
next  morning  they  were  dead  ;  so  we  couldn't  go  no 
further.  I  unloaded  the  wagon,  piled  up  the  bales  of 
robes  all  around  it,  went  into  camp  there,  and  sent  the 
boy  on  to  old  Corcoran,  to  get  some  more  bulls.  I 
expected  him  back  in  about  six  or  seven  days,  but  I 
was  eighteen  days  there  in  camp  before  he  showed  up 
again.  I  tell  you,  them  was  long  days,  too.  Nothing 
to  do  except  to  sit  there  and  watch  them  bales  of  fur, 
and  cook  three  meals  a  day.  I  got  terrible  tired  of  it. 
"  After  I'd  been  there  about  a  week,  one  morning  I 
saw  an  Indian  dog  on  the  prairie,  about  a  hundred 
yards  off.  He  was  sneaking  around,  looking  this  way 
and  that  way,  and  when  he  saw  me  move  about  the 
camp,  he  just  sat  down  and  watched  me.  I  walked 
outside  my  stockade  and  called  to  him,  but  he  didn't 


54  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

pay  no  attention,  just  sat  there.  I  was  kind  of  uneasy 
when  I  saw  him,  for  I  thought  maybe  a  party  of  In- 
dians might  be  coming  along,  and  if  they  did,  and 
took  a  notion  to  them  furs,  there  was  nothing  to  stop 
them  carrying  'em  all  off ;  but  nobody  showed  up. 
The  next  morning  the  dog  was  still  there.  I  went 
out  and  walked  toward  him,  but  as  fast  as  I  walked 
toward  him,  he  walked  away,  and  I  couldn't  get  nearer 
than  about  a  hundred  yards ;  so  I  went  back  to  the 
robes  and  figured  what  I  should  do.  I  wanted  to  get 
hold  o'  that  dog,  for  I  was  powerful  lonesome,  and  I 
thought  he'd  be  kind  o'  company.  I  went  back  to  the 
camp,  and  when  I  got  there  the  dog  had  come  back  to 
the  place  where  he  was  at  first  and  was  settin'  there. 
I  took  a  piece  of  dried  meat  and  went  out  to  where 
the  dog  was,  and  there  I  scattered  a  few  chips  of  meat 
on  the  ground,  and  then  went  back  to  camp,  and  every 
few  feet  as  I  went  Vd  cut  off  a  little  piece  of  meat  and 
drop  it  on  the  ground.  When  I  got  back,  the  dog 
had  come  to  the  place  where  I  put  the  first  meat,  and 
was  nosing  around,  picking  it  up,  and  after  a  while  he 
struck  the  trail  of  meat  toward  camp,  and  came  along 
pretty  slowly,  pretty  shy  and  suspicious,  until  he  was 
about  half  way  between  the  place  where  he  started 
and  the  stockade.  He  wouldn't  come  any  further 
than  that.  I  sat  on  the  bale  of  robes  and  talked  to 
him,  and  called  him,  and  coaxed  him,  and  he'd  look 
at  me  and  put  back  his  ears  and  wag  his  tail,  but  he 
was  afraid.  I  worked  with  that  dog  that  way  three 
days,  before  I  could  get  him  inside  of  the  stockade, 
but  on  the  fourth  day  he  would  come  to  me,  as  I  sat 
by  the  fire,  and  take  pieces  of  meat  out  of  my  hand, 


INDIANS  OF  OLD  TIMES.  55 

and  after  a  while  he  lay  down  on  the  other  side  of  the 
fire  and  went  to  sleep.  That  night  I  got  my  hand  on 
him  and  patted  him,  and  coaxed  him,  and  then  he  saw 
that  I  was  friendly,  and  from  that  time  he  wasn't 
afraid.  I  tell  you  he  was  good  company  to  me,  and  I 
got  to  think  a  heap  of  him  before  that  half  breed  got 
back.  He  was  a  pretty  nice  looking  dog,  too  ;  had 
dark  brown  hair,  so  that  he  looked  some  like  a  beaver  ; 
so  I  called  him  Beaver.  He  got  to  know  his  name 
right  soon,  and  he  stayed  with  me  for  four  years  ;  and 
one  time,  when  I  was  in  the  Cheyenne  camp,  he  dis- 
appeared. I  always  believed  some  of  them  Cheyenne 
women  got  hold  of  him  and  killed  him  for  a  feast." 

''Well,  that's  a  good  story,  Hugh.  I  wish  I  could 
have  been  the  boy  that  drove  that  team.  I'd  like  to 
have  spent  a  winter  in  an  Indian  camp  ;  and  above  all, 
in  those  old  times." 

"  Yes,  son,  I  expect  you'd  have  liked  it  right  well. 
There  was  a  heap  o'  difference  between  Indians  then 
and  now ;  they  were  right  good  people  then,  they 
hadn't  picked  up  many  white  men's  ways ;  so  long  as 
you  treated  'em  well  they  gave  you  the  very  best  they 
had,  and  all  you  wanted  of  it.  There  wa'nt  any  beg- 
gars then,  and  the  men  you  made  friends  with  couldn't 
do  enough  for  you.  Of  course  when  I  went  into  old 
Spotted  Wolf's  lodge,  and  used  it  for  a  store  and  a 
boarding  house,  I  made  him  some  little  presents,  like 
two  or  three  yards  of  red  cloth,  and  three  or  four 
strings  of  beads  and  a  mirror  or  two  to  his  women. 
That  is  all  it  cost  me  to  stop  there  all  winter,  board, 
lodging  and  mending  all  attended  to  for  me." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  ''  I  wish  I  could  have  seen  some 
of  those  old  days." 


56  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

*'  You're  going  to  see  a  heap  this  summer,  son,  that 
will  be  new  to  you,  and  you'll  see  a  lot  of  old-time 
Indians  and  old-time  Indian  ways,  up  where  we're 
going." 

By  this  time  darkness  had  fallen,  and  the  sky  was 
full  of  stars.  The  fire  had  burned  down,  and  the  air 
was  growing  cool.  They  spread  their  beds,  and  before 
long  were  sleeping  soundly. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AN   INDIAN   WAR   PARTY.       • 

When  Hugh  and  Jack  started  next  morning  the  sky 
was  overcast,  and  a  cold  wind  blew  from  the  north. 
Before  they  had  travelled  far,  it  began  to  rain.  Soon 
the  rain  changed  to  snow  and  it  grew  very  cold.  They 
put  on  their  coats  and  slickers,  and  for  an  hour  or  two 
travelled  through  a  howling  snow-storm.  Suddenly 
the  wind  ceased,  the  snow  stopped  falling,  the  sun 
came  out,  and  it  grew  very  warm.  The  snow  which 
had  covered  the  ground  speedily  melted,  and  again 
they  travelled  along  over  a  summer  prairie. 

It  was  near  mid-day  when  Hugh  suddenly  drew  up 
his  horse,  and  motioned  to  Jack  to  ride  up  beside  him. 
He  pointed  to  the  ground,  where  Jack  saw  many  old 
tracks  of  horses,  and  besides  these,  a  half  dozen  ruts  in 
the  soil,  like  those  made  by  wagon  wheels,  but  irreg- 
ular, moving  from  side  to  side  as  they  proceeded,  and 
looking  as  if  something  had  been  dragged  along  the 
ground,  following  in  some  degree  the  inequalities  of 
its  surface.  Jack  could  see  that  these  marks,  as  well 
as  the  hoof  prints,  had  been  made  a  good  while  before, 
yet  after  the  grass  had  begun  to  grow  in  the  spring. 
The  trail  pointed  nearly  in  the  direction  which  they 
were  following,  so  that  by  keeping  on,  they  would 
cross  it  at  an  acute  angle. 


58  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"There,  son,"  said  Hugh,  ''there's  been  a  camp  of 
people  along  here." 

"  Indians?" 

*'  Yes,  quite  a  bunch  of  'em.  There  was  quite  a 
band  of  horses,  and  the  lodge  poles  and  travois,  as  you 
see,  make  a  pretty  big  trail.  I  expect  there  must  be 
a  dozen  lodges  of  'em  at  least ;  maybe  more." 

"  Oh,"  said  Jack,  "  I  was  wondering  what  those 
queer  marks  were  ;  those  are  the    travois,  are  they  ?  " 

"  Yes,  them  and  the  lodge  poles.  You  know,  when 
they're  moving  over  the  prairie  they  tie  a  bunch  of 
lodge  poles  on  either  side  of  the  horse,  over  his 
withers,  and  the  big  ends  of  the  poles  drag  on  the 
ground  ;  that's  what's  cut  the  prairie  up  this  way. 
Them  people  are  going  pretty  near  the  same  way 
we're  going,  but  it's  three  or  four  weeks  since  they've 
passed.  I've  a  notion  we'll  follow  this  trail  for  a 
while,  and  see  which  way  they're  going.  If  they  seem 
to  be  going  the  same  way  we  are,  we'll  branch  off  and 
travel  closer  to  the  mountains,  where  the  country  is 
rougher  and  there's  more  timber." 

Hugh  rode  on,  close  by  the  trail,  and  Jack  followed, 
driving  the  pack  horses.  A  mile  or  two  further  along, 
Hugh  stopped  again,  and  Jack  rode  up  to  him.  Hugh 
pointed  again  to  the  ground  before  him,  and  then  got 
off  and  carefully  inspected  a  moccasin  track  in  the 
trail  that  looked  much  fresher  than  the  others. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  as  he  stood  up  after  looking  carefully 
at  it,  "  I  don't  like  that  very  much.  Somebody's  been 
along  here  quite  a  while  after  the  bulk  of  these  people 
passed.  It's  hard  to  tell  much  about  that  track,  be- 
cause it's  been  rained  on,  but  it  looks  to   me  as   if  it 


AN  INDIAN  WAR  PARTY.  59 

wa'n't  more'n  a  day  or  two  old.  You  go  back  and 
drive  the  horses  on  slowly,  and  I'll  see  whether  I  can 
make  anything  out  of  this  fresh  trail  or  not." 

For  an  hour  or  two  Jack  followed  Hugh,  who  went 
on  quite  slowly,  frequently  dismounting  and  looking 
at  a  track,  and  then  sometimes  going  on  foot  for  some 
little  distance  before  mounting  again.  At  length  the 
trail  bore  off  considerably  to  the  right,  and  here  Hugh 
left  it  and  struck  off  sharply  to  the  left.  A  little  later, 
he  called  Jack  up  to  him  and  said,  ''  There  seems  to  be 
seven  or  eight  men  following  that  trail  on  foot,  and  I 
expect  likely  it's  a  war  party  that's  going  to  try  to 
catch  that  camp  and  steal  their  horses.  If  that's  so, 
you  and  me  want  to  get  as  far  away  as  we  can,  and  I 
expect  the  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  strike  off  toward 
the  mountains,  and  when  we  camp  to-night  to  cache 
as  well  as  we  can  ;  and  maybe  we'll  take  an  early  start 
to-night,  after  the  horses  have  fed  and  got  rested,  and 
make  a  quick  drive,  camping  pretty  early  in  the 
morning,  and  starting  out  again  just  before  night,  and 
ride  half  the  night.  I  don't  want  to  get  mixed  up  in 
no  squabbles  between  any  Indians  that  we're  likely  to 
meet  here  a  way." 

They  rode  on  pretty  rapidly.  Down  in  a  little  hol- 
low they  stopped,  looked  carefully  over  the  packs, 
tightened  all  the  saddles,  and  then  remounting,  started 
at  a  still  better  pace,  trotting  wherever  it  was  level  or 
down  hill,  and  only  walking  the  horses  on  the  steeper 
slopes.  By  this  time  it  had  become  very  hot.  Jack 
had  tied  his  slicker  and  coat  on  behind  the  saddle,  but 
was  still  uncomfortable  under  the  broiling  rays  of  the 
sun. 


6o  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  they  reached  the 
valley  of  a  stream,  and  instead  of  camping  in  the  broad 
open  bottom,  which  offered  a  good  place  to  picket  the 
horses,  Hugh  rode  up  the  stream  to  where  the  valley 
was  dotted  with  frequent  clumps  of  willows,  and  riding 
in  among  these,  halted  at  the  edge  of  a  thick  clump, 
midway  between  the  stream  and  the  bluffs. 

''  Let's  unsaddle  here,"  he  said,  "  and  tie  up  the 
horses  among  these  willows ;  they  ain't  so  likely  to  be 
seen,  if  anybody  happens  to  look  into  the  creek  bed. 
We'll  just  build  a  little  fire  here,  and  cook,  and  then 
put  it  right  out.  I  don't  want  to  make  no  smoke  if  I 
can  help  it." 

The  loads  of  the  horses  and  the  camp  were  well  con- 
cealed, and  after  the  animals  had  drunk,  they  tied  them 
rather  short  to  the  clumps  of  brush,  intending  to  move 
them  from  time  to  time  to  fresh  grass. 

Although  the  sun  was  low  now,  it  was  still  intensely 
hot  ;  and  down  in  the  bottom,  shut  in   by  the  bluffs, 
there  was  no  air  stirring.     The  willow  brush,  too,  cut 
off  what  little  wind  blew  up  or  down  the  creek,  and 
Jack  felt  as  if  he  were  almost  choked.     They  cooked 
and  ate,  and  after  they  had  done  that,  Hugh  said,  ''  I'm 
going  up  this  ravine,  back  of  camp,  to  get  on  a  hill  and 
take  a  look.     You'd   better  stay  here  and  watch  the 
horses.     Don't  move   around    much,  and    if   you    see 
anybody,   just    keep  out   of     sight   all  you  can.     Of 
course  if  anybody  tries  to  take  any  of  the  horses,  why 
you'll  have  to  shoot,  but  I  don't  expect  you'll  see  no 
one.     rU  be  back  here  pretty  quick."     Putting  his  pipe 
in  his  pocket,  Hugh  picked  up  his  gun  and  disappeared 
in  the  willows,  and  Jack  sat  and  sweltered  in  the  heat. 


AN  INDIAN  WAR  PARTY.  6i 

Presently,  he  thought  he  would  go  down  to  the 
brook  and  get  a  drink  ;  so  he  walked  down  there,  and 
stood  on  a  little  gravelly  beach,  over  which  the  water 
poured  with  a  cool,  merry  rattle.  In  the  stream  there 
were  little  fish,  and  as  his  shadow  fell  upon  it,  they 
darted  in  all  directions,  in  great  alarm.  He  drank  of 
the  water,  but  it  was  not  so  cool  as  it  looked,  and 
then  he  wet  his  hands  and  his  wrists  and  his  head. 
This  gave  him  some  relief,  and  he  thought  he  would 
take  off  his  clothes  and  wet  his  body  all  over  in  a  pool 
a  foot  or  two  deep,  at  the  foot  of  the  ripple.  He  put 
his  gun  down  at  the  edge  of  the  willows,  quickly 
stripped  off  his  clothes,  stepped  into  the  pool,  and 
lay  down  in  it.  This  was  delicious.  In  a  moment  he 
forgot  how  hot  he  had  been  just  before,  and  the  water 
almost  reminded  him  of  the  morning's  ride  through 
the  snow  storm.  Still,  as  soon  as  he  raised  his  body 
out  of  the  stream  he  was  warm  enough  again.  After 
ducking  under  two  or  three  times,  he  happened  to 
look  toward  his  clothes,  and  as  he  did  so  his  heart  al- 
most stopped  beating. 

Standing  by  his  clothing  and  gun,  was  a  tall  half- 
naked  man  with  a  robe  hanging  from  his  waist  and 
an  eagle  feather  tied  in  his  head.  He  stood  leaning 
on  his  gun  and  looked  at  Jack  with  a  broad  grin  of 
triumph,  which  showed  his  white  teeth.  He  did  not 
have  the  long  straight  hair  of  an  Indian  ;  it  was  crisp 
and  curled  tight  to  his  head,  and  his  skin  was  not 
brown,  but  was  black  ;  in  fact,  he  looked  like  a  negro. 
All  this  Jack  saw,  but  he  had  no  time  to  reason  about 
it.  He  realised  only  the  one  thing,  that  the  man  was 
standing  over  his  gun  and  cartridge  belt,  while  he  was 


62  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

naked  and  unarmed.  Jack  cast  a  glance  over  his 
shoulder,  with  a  half  formed  idea  of  running  away, 
but  in  this  direction  there  was  no  hope,  for  standing 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  stream,  and  within  a  few 
yards  of  him  was  an  Indian.  About  this  one,  there 
could  be  no  mistake  ;  his  brown  trunk  was  naked, 
crossed  by  a  belt  which  held  a  quiver,  the  feathered 
arrows  projecting  above  his  left  shoulder  ;  on  either 
side  of  his  face,  his  long  hair  hung  down  in  braids, 
and  in  his  right  hand  he  carelessly  held  a  bow  and  a 
sheaf  of  arrows.  Crossing  his  body,  over  the  right 
shoulder  and  under  the  left  arm,  w^as  a  coil  of  raw  hide 
rope.     Jack  was  surrounded.     There  was  no  escape. 

Jack  did  not  know  what  to  do.  He  had  never  be- 
fore felt  so  utterly  helpless.  He  wished  he  had  stayed 
at  camp  as  Hugh  had  told  him  to,  but  it  was  all  so 
quick  that  he  was  conscious  of  nothing  except  a  hor- 
rible sinking  of  the  heart,  and  this  feeling  that  he  was 
helpless.  These  men  could  kill  or  capture  him.  He 
could  make  no  resistance.  Before  he  had  time 
to  think,  the  man  standing  by  his  clothes  raised  his 
open  right  hand  above  his  head,  and  moved  it  toward 
Jack,  at  the  same  time  saying  :  "  Keep  quiet,  don't  be 
scared,  sonny,  you  ain't  agoin'  to  be  hurt.  I  want  to 
talk  to  you." 

The  sound  of  these  words,  spoken  in  English,  gave 
Jack  a  tremendous  sense  of  relief;  it  didn't  seem 
that  any  one  that  spoke  so  good  naturedly  could  wish 
to  harm  him.  At  that  moment  the  Indian  behind 
him  called  across  to  the  other,  and  two  or  three  sen- 
tences were  exchanged  between  them.  Then  the 
negro,  for  such  he    proved   to    be,   called  out,  ''  Come 


AN  INDIAN  WAR  PARTY.  63 

ashore,  sonny,  and  put  your  clothes  on.  Don't  be 
scared,  you  won't  get  hurt.  I'll  just  move  your  gun  a 
little,  though,  so  it  won't  be  in  your  way  and  then 
we'll  talk."  Saying  this,  he  moved  the  gun  and  car- 
tridge belt  a  few  yards  from  the  pile  of  clothing,  and 
standing  between  Jack  and  his  weapons,  motioned 
towards  the  clothes  which  Jack  began  to  put  on. 
Then  he  said,  "  Where  ye  goin'  ?  " 

Jack  had  to  swallow  two  or  three  times  before  he 
could  speak  aloud  then  he  answered  in  a  voice  that 
shook  a  good  deal,  ''  We're  going  up  north  to  the 
Piegan  camp." 

"  What  ye  goin'  to  do  there?  "  came  next. 

**  We're  going  to  visit  John  Monroe,  and  stay  in  the 
camp  all  summer." 

**  Who's  themPiegansye're  talkin'  about?  "  said  the 
negro. 

''  Why,  "  said  Jack,  "  they*re  a  tribe  of  Indians  up 
north." 

"  Who's  John  Monroe,  ye  was  speaking  of  ?  "  said 
the  negro. 

**  He's  a  half  breed,  Hugh  says,  that,  was  raised  in 
the  Piegan  camp  ;  always  lived  with  them.  He  was 
down  last  summer  to  our  ranch,  and  he  asked  Hugh 
and  me  to  come  up  this  summer  and  visit  him." 

On  receiving  this  reply,  the  negro  thought  for  a  lit- 
tle while,  and  then  talked  in  the  unknown  tongue  to 
his  companion,  who  had  now  crossed  the  stream  and 
was  standing  near  Jack.  After  the  two  had  spoken 
for  a  few  moments,  the  negro  again  turned  to  Jack, 
and  said,  "  Who's  that  old  man  ye're  travellin'  with  ?  " 

*'  That's  Hugh  Johnson,"  said  Jack  ;  "  he  works  on 
my  uncle's  ranch,  down  south." 


64  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Suddenly  the  negro  threw  back  his  head  and  laughed 
very  heartily  for  a  long  time;  then  he  said  to  Jack, 
"  Come  on,  sonny,  and  get  your  gun  ;  we'll  go  to  your 
camp  with  you.  Seems  queer,  you  all  goin'  up  to  see 
the  Piegans,  meet  a  Piegan  war  party  down  here.  I'm 
a  Piegan,  myself.  This  here's  young  Bear  Chief,  and 
there's  five  other  young  men  in  this  brush  all  around  us. 
We  see  you  when  you  come  down,  and  young  Bear 
Chief  see  the  old  man,  and  knowed  him  ;  but  I  thought 
we'd  better  make  sure,  and  when  he  went  upon  the 
hill,  and  you  come  down  here  and  went  in  swimmin', 
I  thought  we'd  talk  to  you.  You  see,  we're  friendly,'* 
and  he  stepped  up  to  Jack  and  shook  hands  with  him 
heartily,  and  the  Indian  did  the  same. 

"  My  name's  Hezekiah  Alexander,"  said  the  ne- 
gro. He  seemed  delighted  to  have  an  opportunity 
to  talk  English.  "  I  have  been  with  the  Piegans 
more'n  twenty  years.  I  was  raised  down  in  Tennes^ 
see,  myself.  I  belonged  to  old  Marster  Alexander. 
One  day  the  overseer  give  me  a  terrible  hard  whip- 
ping and  I  run.  I  was  only  thirteen  years  old.  I 
smuggled  myself  on  board  a  Memphis  packet,  and 
got  across  to  the  Illinois  side,  and  worked  north 
mighty  quick.  I  came  up  into  this  country  as  boy  for 
Mr.  Culbertson,  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  but 
I  didn't  stay  long  with  him,  but  joined  these  Indians, 
and  been  with  'em  ever  since.  I  got  a  wife  and  four 
babies  in  the  camp :  you'll  see  'em  this  summer." 

Jack  had  passed  so  quickly  from  despair  to  joy,  and 
from  joy  to  confidence  that  he  had  hardly  recovered 
his  self-possession  or  his  voice  as  yet.  Carrying  his 
gun  he  led  the  way  up  to  the  camp,  where,  as  soon  as 


AN  INDIAN  WAR  PARTY.  65 

he  came  in  sight  of  it,  he  saw  Hugh  standing,  frown- 
ing, as  if  angry  or  puzzled,  and  holding  his  gun  in  the 
hollow  of  his  left  arm.  As  soon  as  they  were  close  to 
camp,  Jack  called  out,  "  It's  all  right,  I  guess,  Hugh  ; 
these  are  Piegans ; "  but  Hugh's  expression  did  not 
alter  until  the  Indian  stepped  up  to  him,  and  tapping 
his  own  breast,  as  he  said,  ''  Nimiah  okyaiyu^'  stretched 
out  his  hand  toward  him.  Then  Hugh's  face  changed, 
and  he  smiled  in  recognition  as  he  said,  '*  Why,  so  it 
is,"  ^and  shook  hands  very  heartily  with  the  young 
man. 

While  Hezekiah  and  Bear  Chief  talked  eagerly  to 
Hugh  in  the  Piegan  tongue.  Jack  had  time  to  recover 
his  equilibrium,  and  when  he  had  done  this  he  stared 
at  the   two  strangers  with  all  his  eyes.      They  were 
dressed  almost  alike,  but  while  Bear  Chief's  face  was 
painted,  Hezekiah's  was  not,  and  showed  a  thin  mus- 
tache, but   no  beard.     Bear   Chief's    scalplock    hung 
down  to  between  his  shoulders,  and  was  ornamented 
by  a  large   flat    pink   shell,   two    inches  in    diameter. 
Hezekiah,  of  course,  had  no  side  braids,  but  he  had  a 
little  short  scalplock,  which  stuck  straight  out  behind 
from   his  woolly  head,  and    at    the    base  of   this,  an 
eagle's  feather  was  tied.     Jack  noticed  that  as  the  two 
talked  with  Hugh,  Hezekiah  frequently  laughed  loudly, 
while  Bear  Chief's  face  was  always  grave  and  earnest. 
Presently  the   Indian   rose  to  his  feet,  and  strode  off 
into  the  brush,  while  the  negro  turned  to  Jack,  and 
said,  with  a  broad  grin,  '*  I    expect   you  was    pretty 
scairt,  sonny,  when  you  see  me  standing  by  your  gun 
just  now." 

"  Yes,"    said  Jack,  "  I  was.     I  never  was  so  badly 


66  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

scared  in  my  life,  and  I  didn't  know  what  to  do.  I 
tell  you,"  he  added,  turning  to  Hugh,  **  I  wished  I'd 
stayed  in  camp,  as  you  told  me  to." 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  gravely,  ''that's  what  you  ought 
to  have  done.  If  these  fellows  had  been  anything  else 
but  Piegans,  you'd  have  been  killed,  likely,  and  me, 
too.  These  men  made  the  tracks  we  was  looking  at 
this  morning  ;  they  followed  that  trail  that  we  was  on, 
until  they  came  to  where  the  people  had  camped,  and 
then  they  saw  that  they'd  been  gone  so  long,  it  wa'n't 
no  use  to  follow  'em,  and  they  left  the  trail  and  struck 
up  toward  the  mountains,  to  rest.  They've  been  out 
quite  a  long  time.  Where  was  the  camp,"  he  con- 
tinued, turning  to  Hezekiah,  '*  when  you  left  it  ?  " 

''They  was  camped  on  the  Mussel-shell,"  answered 
the  negro,  "  but  they  talked  of  moving  up  north  onto 
the  Marias  before  long.  I  expect  you'll  find  'em 
there  ;  or,  maybe  further  north,  either  near  the  Sweet- 
grass  Hills,  or  maybe  over  close  to  the  mountains ; 
maybe  over  by  Chief  Mountain,  or  on  some  stream 
near  it. 

A  moment  later.  Bear  Chief  returned  accompanied 
by  another  Indian,  and  after  speaking  a  few  words  to 
Hugh,  sat  down,  and  taking  his  fire  bag  from  his  belt, 
drew  out  a  large,  curiously  carved,  black  stone  pipe 
and  its  stem,  fitted  them  together,  and  drawing  his 
knife,  commenced  to  cut  some  tobacco.  One  by  one, 
other  Indians  came  marching  into  camp,  until,  includ- 
ing Hezekiah,  there  were  seven  there.  They  were  a 
stalwart  group  of  men,  all  young,  yet  full  grown,  ex- 
cept two,  who  were  boys,  one  of  them  about  Jack's 
age,  and    the    other  a  little    older.     As   they  talked, 


AN  INDIAN  WAR  PARTY.  ^^ 

Hezekiah  gave  Jack  a  hasty  sketch  of  what  they  had 
done  since  they  left  the  Piegan  camp.  They  had  seen 
no  enemies,  and  made  no  war.  Once,  as  they  were 
travelling  along,  they  saw,  far  off,  people  coming,  mak- 
ing a  great  dust.  They  hid  on  top  of  a  high  butte, 
and  watched  these  people,  who  passed  within  a  half 
mile  of  where  they  were.  They  were  soldiers,  and  the 
Indians  kept  very  close  until  they  had  passed  out  of 
sight,  and  then  started  on  to  put  as  great  a  distance 
as  possible>etween  themselves  and  the  troops.  Their 
food  gave  out  at  one  time,  and  they  were  two  days 
without  anything  to  eat ;  then,  one  of  the  young  men 
killed  an  elk,  and  they  feasted,  and  dried  a  little  of  the 
meat.  The  next  day  a  buffalo  bull  w^as  killed,  and 
they  dried  more  meat ;  and  since  then  had  had  plenty 
to  eat.  Now  they  were  thinking  of  turning  their  steps 
northward,  following  close  along  the  foot-hill  of  the 
mountains,  hoping  to  find  some  camp  of  enemies,  and 
take  some  horses. 

While  they  were  talking,  Hugh  built  a  fire,  and  gave 
half  an  antelope  to  two  of  the  young  men  to  roast, 
while  he  baked  some  bread  and  made  a  pot  of  coffee. 
Then  the  Indians  were  invited  to  eat,  and  feasted  on 
the  unwonted  luxuries.  Again,  Bear  Chief  filled  the 
pipe,  and  as  they  sat  around  in  a  circle,  it  passed  from 
hand  to  hand,  each  one,  except  Jack,  drawing  in  seve- 
ral whiffs  of  the  smoke ;  and  each  one,  also,  holding 
the  stem  in  succession  toward  the  sky,  the  earth,  and 
the  four  points  of  the  compass,  and  speaking  a  few 
words.  Jack  at  the  time  did  not  understand  what 
this  meant,  but  Hugh  afterward  explained  to  him  that 
they  were  offering  prayers.     After  this  was  over,  Bear 


68  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Chief  stood  up  and  tightened  his  belt  about  his  waist, 
and  all  the  others  did  the  same  ;  then,  after  a  few 
words  with  Hugh,  all  gravely  shook  hands  with  the 
two  whites,  and  they  filed  into  the  brush.  Hezekiah 
remained  a  moment  behind  the  others,  and  said, 
"Well,  good-bye,  Mr.  Johnson,  good-bye,  sonny; 
you'll  get  to  camp  before  we  do,  but  we'll  be  pretty 
close  behind  you.  I  don't  expect  we're  goin'  to  make 
no  war  this  trip  ;  I  dreamed  we  wouldn't.  Don't  feel 
hard  toward  me,  sonny,  'cause  I  scared  you  to-day.  I 
wouldn't  o'  done  it,  only  I  was  afraid  ye  might  run  for 
your  gun,  and  shoot  some  of  us,  if  I  didn't  get  there 
first.  Good-bye,"  and  he  followed  the  Indians  into 
the  willows.  A  little  later,  Hugh  and  Jack  caught  a 
glimpse  of  them,  walking  in  single  file  up  the  valley,, 
their  brown  bodies  glistening  in  the  sun,  and  the  feath- 
ers in  their  heads  nodding  as  they  walked. 

''Well,  son,"  said  Hugh,  "1  don't  know  which  of 
us  was  the  most  scared  this  afternoon,  but  if  you  was 
scared  as  bad  as  I  was,  I'm  mighty  sorry  for  ye." 

"Well,  Hugh,  nobody  could  have  been  scared  as 
badly  as  I  was.  I  expected  to  feel  the  arrows  going 
through  me  every  second,  for  a  little  while.  Why, 
when  I  first  saw  Hezekiah  standing  there  I  thought 
I'd  die.  If  he  hadn't  spoken  right  away  I  don't  know 
what  I'd  have  done.  It  don't  seem  as  if  I  could  have 
stood  it.  It  seemed  the  longest  time  after  I'd  seen 
him  before  he  spoke,  and  yet  it  couldn't  have  been 
more  than  half  a  minute.  When  I  first  saw  him  stand- 
ing there  smiling,  I  thought  he  was  just  laughing  be- 
cause he'd  got  me,  but  when  he  made  that  sign  and 
spoke  English  I  felt  like  crying,  I  was  so  glad." 


AN  INDIAN  WAR  PARTY.  69 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  *' you  ve  got  to  be  more  care- 
ful; you  hadn't  no  business  to  go  away  from  camp  to- 
day, and  if  you'd  got  killed,  I  don't  know  what  I'd 
have  done." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DODGING   INDIANS. 

The  night  after  Jack's  capture  by  the  Piegans  passed 
quietly  and  very  early  the  next  morning  they  contin- 
ued their  journey,  travelling  fast,  but  very  cautiously. 
At  every  considerable  rise  of  the  prairie  which  gave  a 
wide  view  over  the  country,  Hugh  halted  Jack  and 
the  animals,  and  went  alone  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  from 
which  he  scanned  the  prairie  with  care  before  showing 
himself.  Once  or  twice  signs  of  people  were  seen, 
but  in  each  case  the  trail  was  an  old  one,  made  in 
spring  when  the  ground  was  wet  and  the  grass  just 
starting. 

One  day  after  they  had  made  camp,  Hugh  left  Jack 
to  watch  the  horses,  and  climbed  on  foot  to  the  top  of 
a  lofty  butte  nearby.  When  he  returned  to  camp  he 
told  Jack  that  they  must  move  on  as  soon  as  it  was 
dark,  and  they  gathered  up  the  horses  and  brought 
them  close  to  camp,  and  soon  after  the  sun  had  set, 
packed  and  rode  away. 

"  There's  a  camp  of  people  down  the  creek,  not  very 
far  off,"  Hugh  said.  "  From  the  top  of  the  hill  I  saw 
two  sets  of  hunters  carrying  their  meat  to  camp,  and 
two  or  three  miles  below  here  I  saw  an  old  woman 
gathering  wood.  I  don't  know  who  the  people  are, 
likely  enough  they're  Crows,  and  friendly ;  but  they 


DODGING  INDIANS.  71 

may  be  Sioux  or  Cheyennes,  and  I  don't  want  to  take 
no  chances ;  so  we'd  better  pack  up  and  light  out. 
Them  Piegans  will  think  they  missed  a  great  chance 
when  they  didn't  stay  with  us." 

"  I  suppose  there's  some  danger  that  some  of  these 
hunters  might  walk  right  into  our  camp  at  any  time," 
said  Jack. 

"  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  I'm  kind  o'  surprised  they 
didn't  do  it.  We'll  be  lucky  if  we  get  off  without 
them  seeing  us.  From  now  on,  until  we  cross  the 
Yellowstone  we've  got  to  go  pretty  careful ;  that'll  be 
in  two  or  three  days  though,  I  hope." 

"  Why,"  said  Jack,  "  are  we  as  close  to  it  as  that  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  if  we  could  go  straight  ahead, 
and  travel  fast  without  stopping,  we  could  get  there 
in  two  days." 

They  travelled  almost  all  the  night,  and  toward 
morning  Jack  grew  very  sleepy.  By  this  time  the 
pack  horses  were  so  well  trained  that  they  needed  no 
driving  whatever,  but  kept  along  close  behind  the 
horse  that  Hugh  led;  so  Jack  dozed  in  his  saddle 
through  the  latter  half  of  the  night.  Toward  morn- 
ing it  grew  quite  cool,  and  he  put  on  his  coat.  The 
country  had  now  become  rough  with  high  hills,  and 
they  were  following  the  valley  of  a  river,  on  either  side 
of  which  steep  buffs  stood  outlined  against  the  sky. 
Suddenly  Hugh  stopped  his  horse,  all  the  pack  horses 
came  to  a  stand,  and  Jack  was  aroused  from  his  doze 
by  the  sudden  halting  of  his  horse.  He  could  see  the 
animals  just  ahead  of  him,  but  could  not  see  Hugh. 
Presently,  however,  he  Jieard  a  horse's  tread,  and  in  a 
moment  Hugh  stopped  beside  him  and  said,  *'  We've 


72  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

got  to  get  out  of  this  ;  there's  a  camp  down  the  creek  ; 
I  just  heard  a  dog  bark.  We'll  turn  up  this  side  ra- 
vine, and  travel  until  it  gets  light,  and  then  cache  in 
the  brush,  or  in  the  timber,  if  there  is  any." 

An  hour  later,  with  the  horses  they  were  hidden  in 
a  great  patch  of  plum  brush  and  pines  trees,  near  the 
head  of  the  ravine.  Not  far  away  was  a  high  conical 
hill  which  overlooked  the  valley  that  they  had  left,  and 
Hugh,  climbing  to  the  summit  of  this,  walking  all  the 
time  among  the  pines,  looked  up  and  down  the  valley. 
Almost  beneath  him,  so  near  that  it  seemed  as  if  he 
might  fire  a  rifle  ball  into  it,  stood  the  lodges  of  a 
camp,  all  unknowing  of  the  watcher. 

Hugh  stayed  there  for  along  time,  to  see  what  the 
Indians  were  doing,  and,  also,  to  learn,  if  possible, 
what  they  were  likely  to  do  ;  that  is  to  say,  whether 
they  would  probably  stay  where  they  were,  or  were 
getting  ready  to  move. 

They  had  been  there  a  long  time.  All  through  the 
camp  the  grass  was  worn  from  the  ground  ;  well-beaten 
trails  led  about  through  the  sage  brush  and  a  course  for 
playing  the  stick  game  had  been  cleared  of  brush  and 
stones.  All  about  the  camp  were  drying-scafTolds,  hung 
with  strips  of  meat,  some  of  it  dry  and  brown,  some 
bright  red,  and  some  almost  white.  Hugh  wished  that 
he  had  Jack  with  him,  so  that  he  might  point  out  to  him 
all  the  features  of  the  camp.  He  was  too  uneasy,  how- 
ever, to  think  much  about  that.  He  watched  the  di- 
rection taken  by  the  men  as  they  left  the  camp,  and 
saw  that  most  of  them  went  ofT  up  and  down  the 
creek,  though  some  crossed  it  and  rode  up  a  broad 
valley  that  came  down  through  the  bluffs  on  the  other 


DODGING  INDIANS.  73 

side.  On  the  tops  of  some  of  the  lower  hills  he  saw, 
standing  or  sitting,  the  figures  of  men  wrapped  in  their 
robes  or  summer  sheets,  but  all  had  their  faces  turned 
toward  the  valley,  or  up  or  down  the  stream  ;  none 
looked  back  toward  the  hills.  Hugh  grumbled  a  little 
to  himself,  as  he  lay  there,  and  said,  "  Yes,  that's  all 
right,  but  suppose  some  old  squaw,  with  her  dog  and 
travois,  should  come  up  our  ravine  after  a  load  of 
wood.  Then  where'd  we  be  ?  The  dog  would  sure 
smell  us,  and  we'd  have  to  catch  the  old  woman,  and 
maybe  kill  her,  or  else  she'd  have  the  whole  camp  buzz- 
ing about  that  brush  patch,  like  a  nest  o'  bees." 

About  the  middle  of  the  day  he  turned  to  go  back, 
and  before  he  had  got  half  way  to  the  horses,  he  saw 
just  what  he  had  feared.  An  old  woman,  followed 
by  a  dog  dragging  a  small  travois,  was  slowly  making 
her  way  up   the    ravine. 

Hugh  travelled  along  among  the  pines,  watching 
her  to  see  what  she  would  do,  and  it  was  with  great 
satisfaction  that  he  saw  her  stop  more  than  a  mile  be- 
low the  horses,  and  commence  to  attack  a  fallen  pine 
stick,  with  the  great  stone  maul  that  she  carried.  She 
worked  for  more  than  an  hour,  and  at  length,  having 
collected  a  large  pile  of  wood,  she  bound  a  part  of  it 
on  the  dog  travois,  made  up  another  huge  bundle 
which  she  lifted  on  her  own  back,  and  then  started 
down  the  ravine  to  return  to  the  camp. 

When  Hugh  reached  the  horses  Jack  was  not 
there,  but  presently  he  crept  into  camp  through  the 
brush,  looking  anxious  and  worried.  His  face  lighted 
up  when  he  saw  Hugh,  and  he  said,  "  What  was  that 
hammering  and  chopping  I  heard  down  below,  Hugh  ? 


74  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

I  listened  to  it,  sitting  here,  until  I  couldn't  stand  it 
any  longer,  and  then  I  crept  out  to  the  edge  of  the 
brush  to  see  what  it  was." 

Hugh  told  Jack  about  the  woman,  and  said,  "  Now, 
just  as  soon  as  it  gets  dark,  we've  got  to  start  over  to 
the  other  creek,  and  take  down  that.  I  want  to  put 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  behind  us  before  we  stop,  but 
when  we  do  stop  we've  got  to  let  these  horses  feed, 
and  give  'em  some  water.  I  believe  the  best  thing 
we  can  do  is  to  keep  on  the  divide,  after  we  get  up 
there,  and  not  travel  down  these  river  valleys.  The 
country  seems  to  be  full  of  Indians.  Just  as  soon, 
though,  as  we  can  get  across  the  Yellowstone  we'll 
be  out  of  the  range  of  these  people  and  not  likely  to 
meet  anybody,  except  Piegans,  and  maybe  Crows  or 
Gros  Ventres ;  they'll  all  be  friendly." 

The  horses  had  been  tied  up  to  trees  all  day  long 
and  had  had  no  chance  to  eat,  though  their  packs  had 
been  taken  off  so  that  they  were  pretty  well  rested. 
As  it  grew  dark  they  were  packed  again,  and  Hugh 
led  the  way  up  onto  the  plateau,  along  which  they 
rode  almost  the  whole  night.  Toward  morning  they 
came  to  a  little  stream,  and  camped  in  the  under- 
brush on  the  edge  of  a  little  park,  where  they  let 
the  horses  feed  until  day,  and  then  brought  them  into 
the  brush  and  tied  them  up.  After  the  sun  had  risen 
they  built  a  small  fire,  cooked  some  food,  and  then  put 
the  fire  out. 

*'  Now,  son,"  said  Hugh,  "you  lie  down  and  go  to 
sleep,  and  I'll  go  up  onto  this  hill,  and  stand  guard. 
I'll  call  you  about  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  let  you 
watch  till  nearly  night.     I  feel  pretty  sleepy,  myself." 


DODGING  INDIANS.  75 

Jack  took  his  robe,  and  spreading  it  out  of  sight  in 
the  willows,  was  soon  fast  asleep. 

The  sun  was  well  toward  the  west  before  Hugh's 
hand  on  his  shoulder  awoke  Jack,  who  sat  up,  be- 
wildered for  a  moment,  not  knowing  where  he  was. 

"  Come,  son,"  said  Hugh,  ''it's  near  the  middle  of 
the  afternoon  ;  you  go  up  on  that  hill  and  watch  for 
awhile,  and  I'll  sleep.  Just  about  sunset  you  come 
down  and  wake  me,  and  we'll  eat,  and  pack  up  and  go 
on.  Keep  a  good  lookout,  and  don't  show  yourself, 
and  if  anybody  should  come  right  close,  just  slip 
down  through  the  gulch  and  come  back  here  to  me. 
These  people  ain't  got  no  idee  that  we're  around,  and 
I  don't  want  'em  to  have."  Jack  took  his  gun  and 
started  up  the  hill,  and  Hugh  took  his  place  in  the 
bushes  and  went  to  sleep.  For  some  time  nothing 
was  to  be  seen  from  the  hill-top,  but  an  hour  before 
sunset  Jack  saw  three  horsemen  come  in  view,  riding 
across  the  plain,  as  if  they  were  going  from  the  river 
bottom  on  the  east,  westward  toward  to  camp.  They 
rode  slowly,  leading  two  pack  horses,  apparently 
loaded,  but  they  were  so  far  off  that  he  could  not  be 
sure  of  anything  about  them,  except  that  they  were 
people. 

A  little  later  he  saw  something  move  on  the  hillside 
close  to  him,  and  for  a  moment  was  startled  ;  then,  as 
the  object  came  into  view,  he  saw  that  it  was  only  a 
little  kit-fox.  The  first  that  appeared  was  followed 
by  three  others,  and  the  four  moved  up  over  the  grass, 
quartering  the  ground,  and  smelling  here  and  there, 
almost  like  hunting  dogs  when  they  work  ahead  of 
their  masters,  searching  for  birds.     Now  and  then  one 


76  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

would  make  a  sudden  pounce  in  the  grass,  and  then 
toss  up  its  head  and  seem  to  swallow  something. 
They  worked  around  the  hill,  most  of  the  time  in 
sight,  but  sometimes  hidden  by  elevations  of  the 
ground,  until  they  had  passed  from  Jack's  left  hand  al- 
most to  his  right ;  then  they  stopped  on  a  little  level 
bench  of  the  hill,  in  plain  view,  and  while  the  largest 
of  the  four  lay  down,  the  other  three  had  a  game  of 
romps,  just  such  as  three  puppies  might  have.  One 
sprang  upon  another,  caught  it  by  the  back  of  its 
neck,  and  seemed  to  shake  it,  while  the  one  so  at- 
tacked turned  on  its  enemy,  caught  the  skin  of  its 
shoulder  in  its  teeth,  and  the  two  rolled  over  and  over, 
seeming  to  fight  fiercely.  After  a  moment  or  two  of 
this,  the  third  puppy  plunged  at  the  squirming  pair, 
which  at  once  separated  and  dashed  away,  running  as 
hard  as  they  could,  while  the  third  pursued.  They 
kept  this  up  for  some  little  time  and  then,  seeming  to 
weary  of  the  play,  all  three  returned  to  the  larger  one, 
and  all  lay  down  close  together,  so  that  they  formed 
just  a  mass  of  fur,  almost  the  exact  colour  of  the 
prairie  grass. 

Jack  waited  and  watched,  but  nothing  happened. 
High  in  the  air  he  heard  the  squeaking  cry  of  the  prairie 
night-hawk,  and  every  now  and  then  the  rush  of  its 
wings,  as  it  stooped  toward  the  earth.  One  of  the 
birds  which  he  was  watching,  darted  to  the  ground, 
close  to  where  the  little  foxes  lay,  to  their  evident 
astonishment  and  alarm,  for  all  four  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  looked  about  as  though  greatly  startled. 
From  the  hillside  below  him  the  song  of  the  meadow 
lark  rancr  out  sweet  and  clear,  and  in  the  brush  where 


DODGING  INDIANS.  77 

the  horses  were  tied  and  Hugh  was  sleeping,  there 
were  faint  songs  and  twitterings  of  birds  that  were 
resting  there,  or  seeking  their  evening  meal.  No 
more  people  were  seen,  and  when  the  sun  had  reached 
the  tops  of  the  high  bluffs  to  the  west,  Jack  slipped  cau- 
tiously down  the  ravine,  and  went  through  the  brush  to 
where  Hugh  lay.  As  he  approached  the  spot,  Hugh 
threw  off  the  robe  and  stood  up,  and  with  a  glance  at 
Jack  and  at  the  sky,  shook  himself,  and  said,  "  Well, 
did  ye  see  anything?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Jack,  ''about  an  hour  ago  I  saw  three 
people  leading  two  pack  horses  right  over  toward 
where  the  camp  is;  but  that  is  all  I  saw." 

"  Well,  I  guess  we'd  better  pack  up  and  make 
tracks,  without  lighting  any  fire.  The  chances  are  no 
one  would  see  it  if  we  did  cook,  but  we  won't  take  no 
risks." 

They  went  into  the  brush,  untied  the  horses, 
watered  them,  and  put  on  the  packs,  tying  up  each 
horse  after  his  load  was  secured.  When  this  was 
done,  Hugh  said,  *'  Now  I'm  going  up  to  the  top  of 
the  hill  to  take  another  look,  and  if  there  ain't  nothing 
in  sight,  w'e'U  move." 

Hugh  was  not  gone  long,  and  when  he  returned  he 
said,  "  It's  all  right,  I  guess,  but  before  we  get  out  of 
this  brush  we'll  stop  and  take  a  look  from  the  other 
side."  They  mounted  and  passed  slowly  along,  cross- 
ing the  brook  and  climbing  the  opposite  hill.  Before 
riding  out  of  the  wdllows,  however,  Hugh  dismounted, 
walked  to  the  edge,  and  looked  over  the  plain  before 
him.  After  a  moment  he  turned  and  signed  to  Jack 
to  dismount   and  to  come  towards  him.     Jack    did  so 


78  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

very  carefully,  and  Hugh  pointed  out  into  the  open, 
where  Jack  saw  a  large  dog  trotting  along.  ''  That 
dog  belongs  to  the  camp,"  said  Hugh,  "  and  likely 
there  are  people  right  around  here.  We'll  have  to 
wait  here  until  it  gets  plumb  dark.  There  may  be 
two  or  three  lodges  camped  here  on  this  creek,  though 
I  can't  hardly  believe  it.  Anyhow,  we  won't  take  no 
chances  ;  we'll  stop  here  till  dark.  You  go  back  and 
stay  with  the  horses,  and  leave  me   here  to  watch." 

Jack  returned  to  the  horses,  and  taking  the  bridles 
of  the  two  saddle  horses,  he  stood  there  with  them  at 
the  heads  of  the  pack  horses,  waiting  and  listening. 
It  grew  darker  and  darker,  and  presently  a  voice  at  his 
elbow  said,  ''  Well,  that  dog's  gone  off,  and  I  haven't 
seen  or  heard  anything  ;  we  might  as  well  go  too  ;  " 
and  with  that  they  mounted  and  rode  out  over  the 
plain. 

They  travelled  all  night,  stopping  for  two  or  three 
hours  about  midnight  to  let  the  horses  feed,  and  when 
day  broke  next  morning,  they  could  see  far  before  them 
the  low  line  of  green  timber  which  marked  the  course 
of  the  Yellowstone  River.  A  little  later  Hugh  rode 
down  into  the  valley  of  a  small  stream,  and  they 
made  camp  and  turned  all  the  horses  loose  on  the 
bottom. 

"  We've  got  to  stay  here  and  watch  them  horses 
feed  until  they  get  their  bellies  full,"  said  Hugh, 
*'  and  then  we'll  take  and  tie  'em  up.  I'm  going  to 
start  to-night,  and  not  stop  until  we've  crossed  the 
river.  After  we  get  on  the  other  side  I'll  feel  that 
vre're  safe." 

All  through  the  day  they  watched  the   horses,  and 


DODGING  INDIANS.  79 

rested  and  slept,  and  at  night  they  set  out  again  on 
their  journey.  The  next  morning  found  them  riding 
down  into  the  wide  bottom  of  the  Yellowstone,  and 
over  toward  the  water.  It  looked  deep,  swift  and 
turbulent  to  Jack,  but  Hugh,  turning  to  the  right, 
rode  down  the  stream  for  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  then 
descending  through  a  little  ravine,  rode  out  into  the 
water.  Here  Jack  could  see  that  there  was  a  long  bar 
running  diagonally  across  the  river,  over  which  the 
water  rippled,  showing  that  it  was  not  deep.  Just  be- 
fore he  entered  the  stream,  Hugh  called  back,  "  Keep 
the  horses  well  up,  son,  and  don't  let  them  turn  off  up 
or  down  stream.  The  water's  deep  on  either  side  of 
this  bar,  but  if  they  follow  me  they'll  go  through  all 
right." 

Jack  watched  Hugh  as  he  rode  along,  and  saw 
that  the  water  scarcely  came  up  to  his  horse's  knees 
until  he  had  nearly  reached  the  opposite  bank,  when 
it  suddenly  grew  deeper  and  came  half  way  up  the 
horse's  side,  so  that  Hugh  had  to  take  his  feet  out  of 
the  stirrups  and  hold  them  up,  to  keep  from  getting 
wet.  The  water  here  appeared  to  run  with  great  vio- 
lence, and  Hugh  turned  his  horse's  head  a  little  up 
stream  so  that  the  full  force  of  the  current  would  not 
strike  the  animal  broad  side  on.  Jack  had  kept  the 
pack  horses  close  behind  Hugh,  and  they  followed 
him  well,  and  at  last  all  hands  crawled  out  on  the 
bank. 

''  Now,"  said  Hugh,  as  he  drew  up  his  horse,  *'  I  feel 
easier  in  my  mind.  We've  got  past  the  only  place  I 
was  anyways  nervous  about,  and  from  now  on  we'll 
have  straight,  easy  going,  if  I  ain't  mistaken." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  BIGHORN   IN  CAMP. 

The  day  was  spent  in  the  river  bottom,  all  the 
horses  being  allowed  to  feed  at  liberty,  except  one 
which  was  picketed.  A  few  hours  before  sunset  they 
packed  up  and  travelled  north  for  two  or  three  hours 
stopping  to  camp  for  the  night  on  the  banks  of  a 
little  stream  which  flowed  into  the  Yellowstone 
River.  This  valley  was  narrow,  and  on  either  side  high 
bad-land  bluffs  rose  to  the  prairie  above,  which  was 
dry  and  already  brown,  though  mid-summer  was  not 
yet  here.  That  night  they  had  a  long  rest,  making  up 
then  for  the  many  hours  of  night  travelling  and  day 
watching  which  they  had  undergone  during  the  last 
w^eek. 

As  usual,  Hugh  was  the  first  to  turn  out  of  his 
blankets ;  that  is  to  say,  he  was  the  first  to  awake  and 
sit  up,  but  before  he  had  freed  himself  from  the  cov- 
erings, he  saw  across  the  narrow  valley,  and  just  be- 
low the  top  of  the  bluffs,  something  that  made  him 
call  Jack  sharply,  but  in  a  low  tone  of  voice.  Stand- 
ing on  the  bare  earth,  and  scarcely  to  be  distinguished 
from  it,  except  by  the  dark  shadows  which  they  cast, 
were  three  great  mountain  rams,  splendid  with  their 
stout  curling  horns,  looking  curiously  at  the  horses 
feeding  below  them. 


A  BIGHORN    IN  CAMP.  8i 

''Wake  up,  son,  quick!"  said  he,  ''there's  your 
chance ;  you'll  never  get  a  better  shot  at  sheep  than 
that." 

Awakened  from  his  sound  sleep,  Jack  hardly  un- 
derstood what^was  said,  but  the  word,  sheep,  caught 
his  ear,  and  he  flew  up  suddenly  to  a  sitting  posture, 
like  a  Jack  springing  out  of  its  box. 

"  Not  too  quick,"  said  Hugh  ;  "  easy  now  ;  don't 
lose  your  head.  Where's  your  gun  and  cartridges  ? 
You  want  to  kill  one  of  them  rams,  and  not  leave  me 
to  try  to  do  it,  just  as  they're  jumping  over  the  ridge. 
Take  the  middle  one,  he's  the  biggest,  and  shoot  a 
little  high  on  him  ;  it's  over  a  hundred  yards,  maybe  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  ;  aim  just  above  the  point  of 
his  breast,  and  hold  steady  ;  if  you  make  a  line  shot 
you're  sure  to  get  him." 

The  biggest  ram  was  standing  with  his  head  toward 
them,  and  his  hips  a  little  higher  than  his  shoulders. 
The  other  two  stood  quartering,  one  up  and  one  down 
the  valley,  and  any  one  of  the  three  offered  a  fair  shot 
for  an  ordinary  rifleman.  Jack  drew  his  gun  out  from 
beneath  his  blankets,  loaded  It,  and  drawing  up  his 
knees,  and  resting  his  elbow  on  one  of  them,  drew  a 
careful  bead  at  the  point  named  by  Hugh,  and  fired. 
At  the  report,  the  ram  shot  at  gave  a  long  bound 
down  the  hill,  and  then  stood  for  an  instant.  The 
other  two  had  each  sprung  into  the  air,  and  now  all 
three  turned  and  began  to  climb  the  hill,  the  two 
smaller  ones  at  a  gallop,  the  other  walking. 

"Shall  I  shoot  again,  Hugh?"  said  Jack,  much 
excited. 

Hugh  still  sat  with  his  blankets  around  his  legs,  and 


82  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

a  smile  on  his  face,  as  he  answered,  ''  I  don't  believe 
I'd  waste  another  cartridge ;  he'll  do  us  for  quite  a 
ways  yet." 

As  he  spoke  the  last  ram  turned  off  to  one  side,  and 
disappeared  behind  a  little  ridge  on  the  shoulder  of 
the  bluff. 

"  Ah,"  said  Jack,  with  a  long  sigh  of  contentment, 
*'  I  thought  I  heard  the  bullet  strike,  but  I  wasn't 
dead  sure." 

"  Well,  I  guess  he's  stopped  over  there  somewhere : 
we  surely  would  have  seen  him  if  he'd  run  off  any- 
where. What's  that?  "  As  Hugh  spoke,  Jack  heard  a 
clatter  of  stones,  which  to  his  ears  sounded  as  if  the 
whole  face  of  the  bluff  were  sliding  down,  and  a  mo- 
ment later  a  cloud  of  dust,  rising  over  the  shoulder  of 
the  little  ridge  behind  which  the  sheep  had  dis- 
appeared, showed  that  some  commotion  was  taking 
place  over  there.  A  moment  more  and  the  great 
sheep  appeared,  slowly  rolling  over  and  over  down  the 
hill,  his  legs  sticking  up  in  the  air  at  one  moment, 
then  his  back  and  great  horns  showing,  as  he  rolled  on 
toward  the  valley. 

''Ha!"  said  Hugh,  ''he's  saving  us  quite  a  lot  of 
packing.  Now,  the  first  thing  we'll  do  is  to  go  over 
there  and  butcher  him,  and  bring  the  meat  into  camp  ; 
and  then  we'll  eat  breakfast." 

They  crossed  the  stream,  which  was  only  two  or 
three  inches  deep,  on  a  wide  riffle,  and  were  soon 
standing  over  the  game.  It  was  a  magnificent  animal ; 
far  handsomer,  Jack  thought,  than  any  game  he  had 
as  yet  killed— a  picture  of  strength,  grace  and  beauty. 
"  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  did  hope  that  maybe  some- 


A  BIGHORN    IN  CAMP.  83 

time  during  the    year   I'd   get   a    chance  to    shoot    a 
sheep,  but  I  never  expected  to  have  it  come  so  soon." 

''And  I  expect  you  never  thought  a  sheep  would 
walk  right  into  camp  to  be  killed,  either." 

''  No,  I  surely  didn't  think  that." 

"  Now,  I  expect,"  said  Hugh,  "  that  you'd  like  to 
save  this  skin,  and  the  head,  too  ;  it's  a  good  head, 
and  you  may  kill  a  whole  lot  of  sheep  before  you'll  ever 
see  a  better,  and  yet  I  don't  like  the  idea  of  packing 
this  head  all  over  the  country  ;  I  wonder  if  we 
couldn't  cache  it  somewhere,  and  then  try  to  come 
back  here  and  get  it  when  we're  going  south  this  fall." 

*'  That  would  be  good,  but  how  would  you  ever  find 
it  again  ?  Of  course  you  couldn't  be  sure  of  coming 
right  back  to  this  place.  You  might  have  to  travel 
up  or  down  the  Yellowstone  a  long  way,  hunting  for 
the  head." 

"  Don't  you  fret  yourself  about  that,  son  ;  I  know 
where  this  creek  is  just  as  well  as  you  know  where  the 
corrals  are,  down  at  the  ranch.  Many  a  time  I've 
camped  here,  and  if  we  hang  this  head  up  in  a  tree 
somewhere  near  here,  I  can  find  it  the  darkest  night 
that  ever  was ;  but  what  I'm  thinking  about  is,  that 
maybe  we  won't  come  back  this  way,  and  I  don't  want 
to  travel  a  hundred  miles  just  to  get  a  sheep's  head. 
Anyhow,  I'll  cut  the  skin  of  the  neck  low  down,  and 
we  can  make  up  our  minds  later  what  we'll  do  with 
the  skull." 

It  did  not  take  very  long  to  butcher  and  cut  up  the 
sheep,  but  several  trips  had  to  be  made  before  the 
meat  and  hide  and  head  had  been  carried  to  the  camp. 

"  Now,"  said   Hugh,  "  I  want  you  to  make  the  fire 


84  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

and  cook  breakfast,  and  I'm  going  to  dry  some  of  this 
meat." 

While  Jack  was  at  work  getting  breakfast,  Hugh 
stretched  two  of  the  sling  ropes  double,  between  a 
tree  and  some  tall  bushes  that  grew  near  it,  and  then 
went  to  work  at  the  carcass  of  the  sheep,  cutting  the 
flesh  from  it  in  wide  flakes,  of  which  before  long  he 
had  a  considerable  pile.  These  he  hung  over  the 
sling  ropes,  much  as  a  laundress  would  hang  handker- 
chiefs on  a  clothes  line,  and  before  Jack  had  an- 
nounced that  breakfast  was  ready,  one  of  the  lines 
was  covered  with  red  meat,  which  was  already  begin- 
ning to  turn  brown,  in  the  rays  of  the  hot  sun. 

"  Whew !  "  said  Hugh,  as  he  came  up  to  the  fire  to 
eat  his  breakfast,  ''  this  is  going  to  be  a  scorching  hot 
day.  I  believe  we'll  stop  here  for  a  while,  and  give 
that  meat  a  chance  to  dry,  and  the  horses  a  chance  to 
rest  up,  and  feed  good  ;  they're  beginning  to  get  poor, 
and  I  don't  wonder,  for  they  haven't  had  much  chance 
to  eat  for  the  last  six  days.  Is  that  all  the  breakfast 
you've  got  ?  "  he  continued,  looking  at  the  frying-pan 
full  of  meat  which  Jack  had  cooked ;  "  why,  that 
ain't  a  marker ;  I  could  eat  all  that  myself.  You'll 
have  to  put  on  some  more  before  long,  if  you've  got 
anything  like  the  appetite  I've  got." 

Breakfast  was  a  deliberate  meal,  and  greatly  enjoyed. 
Jack  thought  that  the  flesh  of  the  mountain  sheep 
was  the  best  meat  that  he  had  ever  eaten,  and  said 
so. 

"  It's  good,"  said  Hugh.  "  It's  sure  good  ;  but  don't 
make  up  your  mind  it's  the  best  meat  in  the  world  till 
we  get  among  the  buffalo  ;  then  you'll  be  eating  what 


A  BIGHORN    IN  CAMP.  85 

the  Pawnees  call,  real  meat,  and  If  you  don't  say  that 
fat  cow  is  the  best  meat  in  the  world,  I  don't  want  a 
cent.  Did  you  notice  anything  when  we  came  down 
into  the  valley  last  night  ?  " 

'*  Yes,  I  saw  where  some  cattle  had  been." 
"  Ah,  that's    what    I   meant  ;  but  them  cattle  ain't 
the  white-horned  spotted  cattle  that  you're  used  to  see  ; 
they're  the  cattle  that  belong  here  on  these  prairies." 
"What,  are  those  buffalo  tracks?" 
"That's  what.     They're   old,   but   there's  been  buf- 
falo here  this  spring,  and  I  miss  my  guess  if  we  don't 
see  some  of  'em  before  many  days  have  passed." 

"  Well,"  said   Jack,  "  I'm  going  over  to   take  a  look 
those  tracks,  so  I'll  know  'em  again  when  I  see  'em." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "you  won't  have  to  go  across 
the  creek,  because  there's  plenty  of  'em  right  down 
below  here.  The  first  thing  I  want  you  to  do,"  and 
he  put  his  hand  in  his  pocket  and  drew  out  his  pipe, 
"  is  to  help  me  to  slice  up  the  rest  of  this  meat,  and 
put  it  up  where  it'll  dry.  With  the  sun  as  hot  as  it  is 
to-day,  it  won't  take  long  for  it  to  get  hard,  and  may- 
be toward  night  we  can  pack  up  and  travel  a  few 
miles  further  on." 

They  now  returned  to  the  sheep's  carcass,  and  be- 
fore long  almost  the  whole  of  it  was  hanging  in  the 
sun  to  dry.  One  of  the  hams  and  a  sirloin  were 
saved,  to  be  eaten  as  fresh  meat  ;  the  rest,  when  dry, 
would  be  packed  in  a  sack  and  carried  with  them. 

By  the  time  they  had  completed  their  task  it  was 
mid-day,  and  the  sun  was  blazing  down  with  all  its 
force  into  the  little  valley  where  the  camp  was. 

"  Whew  !  "  said  Hugh,  "  it's  hot  here,  ain't  It  ?     Now 


86  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

let's  go  down  to  the  creek  and  wash  up,  and  then 
we'll  fry  some  sheep  meat,  and  set  in  the  shade  for  an 
hour  or  two  ;  and  then,  if  you  like,  we'll  take  this 
sheep's  head  down  below  here,  and  maybe  get  it  when 
we  come  back  in  the  fall." 

*' All  right,"  said  Jack,  "  I'd  like  to  put  it  up  some- 
where where  it  will  be  safe,  because  I  want  to  take  it 
home  with  me  and  have  it  mounted,  and  give  it  to 
mother.  You  see,  I  didn't  take  anything  back  with 
me  last  year,  except  those  hides,  and  I'd  like  real 
well  to  be  able  to  point  to  this  head  hanging  in  the 
house,  and  tell  the  fellows  how  I  killed  it." 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  there's  a  safe  place  to  put  it, 
not  more'n  a  mile  away,  and  the  only  thing  is  not  to 
forget  to  come  this  way  when  we're  going  south  in 
the  fall." 

After  a  hearty  meal,  and  an  hour  or  two  of  rest  in 
the  shade,  Hugh  said,  "Now,  son,  round  up  your 
horses  and  we'll  start.  Suppose  you  ride  the  black 
to-day,  and  leave  Pawnee  and  the  others  here;  I'll 
ride  the  bucking  dun." 

Jack  walked  out  toward  where  the  horses  were 
standing,  and,  drawing  his  whistle  from  his  pocket, 
blew  a  shrill  blast.  At  once  all  the  horses  raised 
their  heads  and  looked  toward  him,  and  in  a  moment 
Pawnee  started,  trotting  across  the  flat,  and  all  the 
other  horses  followed.  Pawnee  trotted  straight  up  to 
Jack  and  reached  out  his  nose  toward  him,  and  Jack, 
taking  from  his  pocket  a  piece  of  bread,  held  it  toward 
the  horse,  which  nosed  it  for  a  moment  and  then  took 
it  between  his  lips  and  began  to  eat  it.  While  he  was 
doing  this,  Jack  passed  his  right  arm,  which  held  the 


A  BIGHORN    IN  CAMP.  87 

rope,  around  the  horse's  neck,  knotted  it  through  in  a 
bowline,  and  then  stepping  quietly  around  among  the 
other  horses,  passed  the  other  end  of  the  rope  over 
the  neck  of  the  black,  and  tied  that.  Hugh,  mean- 
while, had  walked  around  the  horses  and  up  to  the 
bucking  dun,  on  the  other  side,  and  attached  his  rope 
to  its  neck.  Pawnee  was  then  freed,  and  the  two  horses 
to  be  ridden  were  led  over  to  where  the  saddles  were. 

Hugh  was  soon  saddled  up,  but  before  he  finished 
he  noticed  that  Jack  was  having  trouble.  He  had 
dropped  the  rope  on  the  ground,  and  holding  the 
bridle  open,  tried  to  pass  it  over  the  head  of  the  black 
horse,  but  whenever  he  did  this  the  horse  threw  his 
head  up  in  the  air  so  high  that  Jack  could  not  reach 
it.  Hugh  watched  the  performance  for  a  little  while, 
and  at  last  saw  Jack  throw  his  right  arm  around  the 
horse's  neck,  near  the  head,  and  again  try  to  put  the 
bridle  on,  but  again  the  horse  raised  its  head.  Jack 
held  on,  and  was  swung  quite  off  his  feet,  and  when 
the  horse  lowered  its  head  again  and  Jack's  feet 
touched  the  ground  he  seemed  angry,  and  struck  at 
the  horse's  nose  with  his  right  hand,  but  did  not  hit  it, 
and  then,  very  angrily,  tried  to  kick  the  horse  in  the 
belly.  The  horse  stepped  a  little  to  one  side  and 
Jack  had  kicked  so  hard  that  he  sat  down  very 
suddenly  In  a  bunch  of  sage  brush. 

"Hold  on,  son,"  said  Hugh,  ''that  ain't  no  way  to 
manage  that  horse  ;  you'll  never  do  nothing  with  a 
horse  by  getting  angry  at  him  and  hammering  him  ; 
keep  cool,  and  you  can  conquer  most  any  horse  ;  get 
mad,  and  swear  and  kick  and  throw  clubs,  and  you  will 
spoil  the  best  horse  that  ever  lived." 


88  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

''Well,  confound  it,"  said  Jack,  "  I  can't  bridle  him 
and  it  would  make  a  saint  mad  to  have  to  do  with 
such  a  fool  of  a  horse." 

"  Well,  I  guess  that's  so,  but  even  if  the  saint  did 
get  mad,  he  wouldn't  get  his  horse  bridled  I  want 
you  to  have  sense,  and  not  make  a  fool  of  yourself, 
even  if  the  horse  is  one.  Throw  the  bridle  down  on 
the  ground,  now,  and  put  the  saddle  on  him." 

Jack  felt  a  good  deal  ashamed  of  what  he  had  done, 
and  he  knew  that  what  Hugh  had  said  was  true,  that 
nothing  could  be  gained  by  getting  angry.  He  got 
his  saddle,  folded  the  blanket,  and  saddled  the  horse. 
*'  Now,"  directed  Hugh,  ''  throw  the  end  of  your  rope 
across  the  saddle,  so  that  it  hangs  down  on  the  off 
side."  Jack  did  so,  and  then  Hugh  called  him  around 
to  that  side  of  the  horse. 

"  Now,"  said  lie,  "  tie  your  rope  around  his  fetlock," 
and  when  this  had  been  done,  he  added,  "  now,  take 
up  his  foot  and  bend  his  knee,  and  take  a  couple  of 
turns  of  your  rope  around  the  saddle  horn,  so's  to 
hold  his  foot  up  ;  now,  slip  round  on  the  other  side 
and  put  the  bridle  on  him,  quietly;  don't  be  in  a 
hurry." 

Jack  took  up  the  bridle  and  opened  it,  and  was 
about  to  try  to  pass  it  over  the  horse's  head,  when 
Hugh  said,  "  Push  against  his  shoulder  hard."  Jack 
did  so,  and  the  horse  lost  its  balance  a  little  and  awk- 
wardly lifted  his  front  foot  and  put  it  down  again,  so 
that  it  could  stand  steadily. 

"  Now,"  said  Hugh,  *'  put  your  bridle  on  quietly." 
The  horse  paid  no  attention  to  the  bridle,  opened  his 
teeth  when  Jack  pressed  his  jaw,  and  in  a  moment  the 
bridle  was  on  and  the  throat-latch  buckled. 


A  BIGHORN    IN  CAMP.  89 

"  Now,  turn  his  foot  loose,"  said  Hugh,  "and  we'll 
go  on  up  to  that  clump  of  trees."  Hugh  took  the 
sheep's  head  in  one  hand,  mounted  and  started  on, 
and  Jack  followed.  As  they  rode  up  the  valley,  side 
by  side,  Hugh  said,  ''That  horse  you're  riding  isn't  a 
bad  horse,  and  he  isn't  rightly  a  fool  horse,  either,  but 
your  uncle  lent  him  last  fall  to  a  cow-puncher  that  was 
working  for  the  Bar  X  outfit,  and  had  lost  his  horse  and 
stopped  with  us  for  a  few  days.  That  fellow  didn't 
have  the  sense  that  God  gave  him ;  he  was  always 
hammering  his  horse  in  some  way  or  other.  If  the 
horse  didn't  lead  good,  he'd  take  a  club  and  pound  it 
over  the  head.  He  came  pretty  near  spoiling  two  or 
three  horses  he  rode  while  he  was  here.  Finally,  one 
day  Jo  found  him  in  the  corral,  hammering  one  of 
them  young  horses  that  was  rode  last  summer,  with  a 
club,  and  he  took  the  club  away  from  the  fellow  and 
began  to  hammer  him.  The  fellow  tried  to  draw  his 
gun,  but  Jo  was  too  quick  for  him,  and  clinched  him, 
and  got  the  gun  and  threw  it  out  of  the  corral.  Then 
they  fought  all  over  the  place,  until  Rube  and  Mr. 
Sturgis  heard  'em,  and  came  out  and  stopped  it. 
When  your  uncle  heard  what  had  happened,  he  told 
that  cow-puncher  to  take  his  blankets  and  walk,  and 
the  last  they  see  of  him  he  was  walking. 

"  When  you  tied  up  this  horse's  foot,  and  gave  him 
a  shove,  so  that  he  see  he  wasn't  very  steady  on  his 
legs,  you  gave  him  something  to  think  about,  and  he 
forgot  all  about  that  he  didn't  want  to  be  bridled,  and 
was  just  thinking  of  keeping  his  right  side  up." 

"  Well,  Hugh,  it's  a  mighty  good  thing  to  know 
that  about  taking  up  a  horse's  leg.     I  was  awful  mad 


90  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

when  I  couldn't  bridle  that  horse,  and  felt  as  if  I'd 
like  to  kill  him  ;  then  when  I  kicked  at  him  and  missed 
him,  and  sat  down,  I  felt  what  a  fool  I'd  been,  and  I 
was  madder  than  ever." 

''  Well,  it  don't  pay  for  a  fellow  to  lose  his  head. 
A  man  wants  to  keep  his  wits  about  him  all  the  time, 
and  when  you  get  mad  and  try  to  fight  a  horse, 
whether  it's  a  bad  horse  or  just  a  scared  horse,  you're 
kind  o*  losing  the  advantage  that  a  man  has  over  an 
animal,  and  putting  yourself  down  on  his  level." 

**  That's  so,  isn't  it?"  said  Jack,  "I  never  thought 
of  it  just  that  way  before." 

"  Yes,  that  is  so ;  the  only  thing  that  a  man  has  got 
that's  much  use  to  him  is  his  sense ;  a  buffalo  is  bigger 
and  stronger ;  a  deer  is  swifter  ;  a  wolf  can  crawl  around 
better  out  of  sight,  and  all  them  animals  are  better 
armed  than  a  man  is.  It's  his  sense  that  gives  a  man 
the  pull  on  all  of  'em,  and  makes  him  able  to  creep  up 
on  *em  and  kill  'em,  if  he  wants  to  ;  makes  him  able  to 
tame  horses,  and  makes  him  smart  enough  to  get  up 
guns  and  gunpowder,  and  railways  and  all  them  things. 
So,  whatever  you  do,  son,  you  want  to  try  to  hang  on 
to  your  sense,  and  never  lose  it  even  for  a  minute.  A 
man  that's  got  a  level  head,  that  isn't  away  up  in  the 
air  one  minute,  and  away  down  to  the  ground  another, 
is  the  man  that's  going  to  come  out  ahead." 

As  Hugh  finished  speaking,  they  rounded  a  point  of 
the  bluffs  and  saw  before  them  a  group  of  half-a-dozen 
box-elder  trees,  with  a  few  clumps  of  willows  growing 
beneath  them.  "There,"  said  Hugh,  ''if  we  put  that 
skull  up  in  that  thickest  box-elder  tree  it's  pretty 
sure  to  stay  there  until  we  come  back.      Nothing   will 


A  BIGHORN    IN  CAMP.  91 

• 

bother  it  except  the  magpies,  and    all  they'll    do  will 
be  to  clean  off  the  meat  there  is  on  it." 

They  stopped  under  the  tree,  and  dismounted. 
Hugh  pointed  upward,  and  Jack,  obeying  his  gesture, 
quickly  scrambled  up  to  the  lowest  of  the  branches. 
Hugh  threw  him  the  end  of  his  rope,  which  Jack 
caught,  and  carrying  it,  climbed  up  in  the  thick  foli- 
age. 

'' Now,"  said  Hugh,  '' you  haul  up  the  skull,  and 
hang  it  by  the  horns,  close  to  the  trunk,  across  two 
branches.  See  that  it  is  so  firm  that  it  can't  blow 
down  ;  or,  if  you  can't  make  it  firm,  tie  it  with  these 
buckskin  strings  that  I'll  put  around  the  horn." 
Hugh  took  two  long  thongs  of  buckskin  from  his 
pocket,  wound  them  around  the  horns,  and  then  lift- 
ing the  skull  as  high  as  he  could.  Jack  slowly  hauled  it 
up  to  where  he  was. 

*'  Here's  a  bully  place,"  he  said,  ''  sl  branch  to  hold 
each  horn,  and  a  strong,  dry  stub  coming  out,  that 
will  support  the  chin." 

*'  All  right,"  said  Hugh,  ''  maybe  you'd  better  tie  it, 
anyhow,  with  them  strings ;  then  we'll  be  doubly  sure 
that  it  will  stay  there." 

After  a  few  moments'  work.  Jack  threw  down  the 
end  of  the  lariat,  and  called  to  Hugh,  "  It's  firm  and 
steady  as  a  rock,  now,  and  I  don't  believe  anything 
can  move  it." 

''  All  right,"  said  Hugh  ;  ''come  on,  we'll  go  back 
to  camp  and  maybe  move  on  a  little  further  to-night." 

A  little  later  they  were  again  in  camp. 

Two  or  three  hours  before  sunset  they  packed  up 
and  set  out  again,  travelling   until   nearly  dark,  when 


92  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

they  came  to  a  water  course  which  was  dry,  except  for 
an  occasional  hole  where  there  was  a  little  mud  and 
stagnant  water.  Hugh  paused  and  looked  about,  say- 
ing, ''  We've  struck  this  creek  a  little  too  far  down; 
there's  a  spring  just  a  little  above  here — right  good 
water."  Turning,  he  rode  up  the  stream  and  before 
long  called  back,  "There's  the  place  just  ahead;  we'll 
camp  there  to-night." 

For  the  next  two  or  three  days  they  continued 
their  journey.  Jack  now  had  plenty  of  chance  to  see 
buffalo  tracks,  for  it  was  evident  that  not  long  before 
there  had  been  plenty  of  buffalo  on  the  prairie  here. 


CHAPTER  X. 

BUFFALO. 

"  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  as  they  sat  at  breakfast  one 
morning,  "  oughtn't  we  to  see  some  buffalo  pretty 
soon?  We've  been  seeing  a  lot  of  sign,  and  it  seems 
to  me  that  it's  growing  fresher  all  the  time." 

"  That's  so,  son,"  answered  Hugh  ;  "  it  is  growing 
fresher,  and  I  believe  that  we're  liable  to  see  buffalo 
most  any  day  now.  Maybe  we'll  see  some  to-day. 
You  took  notice  that  the  sign  has  been  growing 
fresher  all  the  time,  but  I  don't  know  if  you  saw  that 
these  buffalo  are  moving  just  about  the  same  way  we 
are.  Of  course  they  ain't  travelling;  they're  just  kind 
o'  feeding  along,  but  if  you  watch  the  tracks  we  pass 
to-day,  you'll  see  that  the  most  of  'em  are  pointing 
just  about  the  way  we're  going.  Now,  we've  been 
travelling  right  smart  and  fast,  not  stopping  for  any- 
thing, ever  since  we  first  struck  the  sign.  When  we 
first  saw  it,  it  was  right  old.  Now  it's  fresh.  That 
means  that  we  are  following  up  the  buffalo,  and  catch- 
ing up  to  'em,  and  I  wouldn't  be  surprised  if  we  were 
to  see  some  before  we  camp  to-night."  Hugh  stopped 
speaking,  filled  his  pipe,  and  leaning  over  toward  the 
fire,  picked  up  a  brand  and  lighted  it.  "  Well,"  he 
went  on,  '*  if  you'll  saddle  up  now,  I'll  fix  up  thci^e 


94  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

dishes,    and    make    up    the    packs,    and  we'll  move 
along." 

Jack  went  out  and  brought  in  the  horses,  and  tied 
them  up  to  some  bushes.  Then  he  put  the  saddles 
on  the  pack  horses,  and  drew  the  cinches  up  on  them 
well,  but  did  not  tie  them.  Next  he  saddled  Hugh's 
horse,  and  then  his  own,  in  each  case  leaving  the  lati- 
gos  untied.  By  the  time  he  had  returned  to  the  fire, 
Hugh  had  made  up  his  packs,  and  when  Jack  saw 
that  they  were  ready,  he  brought  up  the  pack  horses, 
one  by  one,  and  after  re-cinching  each  animal,  the 
loads  were  speedily  in  position.  The  two  riders 
mounted,  and  they  moved  off  in  a  single  file,  Hugh 
leading,  the  pack  horses  following  and  Jack  as  usual 
bringing  up  in  the  rear  on  Pawnee. 

All  through  the  morningthey  travelled  on  over  the 
gray  prairie.  Antelope  were  plenty  and  tame,  and 
often  ventured  within  shot  of  the  train,  but  they  had 
meat  in  one  of  the  packs,  and  neither  Hugh  nor  Jack 
felt  like  molesting  the  pretty  animals.  There  were 
many  flowers  to  be  seen  on  the  prairie  ;  bunches  of  bril- 
liant red  or  yellow  cactus  and  white  poppy  bells  swing- 
ing in  the  wind.  Now  and  then,  in  some  low  places, 
where  it  was  too  damp  for  the  sage  to  grow,  they  saw 
patches  of  blue  and  pink  lupine,  and  occasionally  a 
bunch  of  white  flowers,  which  Hugh  had  told  Jack  was 
the  loco  ;  a  plant  which  poisons  animals  that  eat  it. 

About  noon  Hugh  halted  near  a  little  hill,  and  said 
to  Jack,  "  Let's  leave  the  pack  horses  hereto  feed,  and 
ride  up  on  top  of  that  bluff.  I  think  maybe  we'll  see 
something."  They  did  so,  and  when  they  reached  its 
crest,  Hugh,  after  looking  over  the  landscape  for  a  few 


BUFFALO.  95 

moments,  pointed  away  to  the  north,  and  said,  "  Buf- 
falo." Jack  looked  hard,  but  could  see  nothing  that 
looked  like  a  buffalo,  but  far  off  on  the  distant  hillside 
he  saw  some  tiny  black  specks,  which  he  knew  must 
be  the  longed-for  animals. 

"Now,  Hugh,"  he  said,  "  how  do  you  know  that 
those  are  buffalo,  and  not  cattle  or  horses?  " 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  don*t 
believe  I  can  tell  you  how  I  know,  but  I  know  it  all 
the  same.  In  the  first  place,  in  this  range  of  country 
where  we  are  now,  there  ain't  any  cattle  or  any  horses, 
without  they're  Indian  horses.  Now,  of  course  it  might 
be  such  a  thing  that  there'd  be  a  little  bunch  of  In- 
dian horses  scattered  out  on  the  hill-side  like  that, 
and  all  of  'em  dark  coloured  animals,  but  I  don't  believe 
it.  I  wouldn't  look  to  see  horses  in  such  a  place  as 
that ;  they're  too  far  from  any  stream,  and  they  don't 
look  right  for  horses.  At  the  same  time,  they're  too 
far  off  for  me  to  tell  by  their  shape  or  the  way  they 
act  that  they  ain't  horses.  But  you  keep  on,  and  be- 
fore the  day's  over,  we'll  see  more  buffalo,  and  close 
to  us,  too ;  and  maybe  before  this  trip's  over,  you'll 
get  to  know  buffalo  when  you  see  'em  as  far  off  as 
that,  even  if  you  can't  tell  how  it  is  you  know  what 
they  are." 

Two  or  three  miles  beyond  this  they  stopped  at  a 
little  stream,  where  there  were  a  few  trees,  and  un- 
packed their  animals  and  turned  them  out  to  graze, 
while  they  built  a  fire  and  cooked  a  meal.  After  they 
had  eaten,  and  prepared  the  packs  again,  Hugh  said, 
"  Now,  we'll  let  these  horses  eat  for  an  hour  longer 
before  packing  up,  and  then  we'll  start,  and  if  we  have 


96  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

to,  we  can  make  quite  a  long  drive  before  night.** 
They  made  themselves  comfortable  under  the  shade 
of  the  tree,  and  presently  Hugh  said  to  Jack,  "  Son,  do 
you  mind  the  lecture  I  gave  you  about  hunting,  when 
you  first  came  out  into  this  country,  more  than  a  year 
ago  ?  That  was  the  day  you  killed  your  first  antelope, 
I  think." 

"  Yes,  of  course  I  remember,  Hugh,"  replied  Jack. 
^'  I  didn't  understand  everything  that  you  told  me  then, 
but  I've  remembered  it  all  a  good  many  times  since, 
and  what  you  said  to  me  has  helped  me  a  whole  lot." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''  I  expect  I  did  talk  a  heap  that 
day,  but  I  wanted  to  kind  o'  try  and  start  you  on  the 
right  road.  I  mind,  though,  that  while  I  was  talking, 
I  kept  thinking  I  was  kind  o'  like  one  of  them  profess- 
ors that  we  see  out  in  this  country  sometimes;  them 
fellows  that  come  out  to  dig  bones,  and  catch  bugs, 
and  all  sorts  of  little  lizards,  snakes  and  other  varmints. 
I  heard  one  of  them  talking  once,  and  he  just  kept 
right  on  for  two  or  three  hours,  telling  us  about  how 
the  earth  was  made,  and  how  this  used  to  be  water 
where  it  is  all  dry  now,  and  a  whole  parcel  of  things 
that  I  didn't  understand,  and  I  don't  believe  anybody 
else  did,  except  the  man  that  was  talking." 

''Well,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  "there  isn't  anybody  that 
knows  it  all,  and  these  professors  know  about  bones 
and  bugs,  and  you  know  about  hunting  and  trailing, 
and  fighting  Indians.  I  suppose  there  ain't  any  man 
but  what  could  teach  'most  any  other  man  something." 

''  That's  so,  son ;  you're  dead  right,  but  the  trouble 
with  most  of  us  is,  we  set  a  heap  of  store  by  what  we 
know,  and  we   don't  think  very  much  of  what  other 


BUFFALO.  97 

people  know.     I  expect  the  smartest    men    of  all  is 
them   that's   always     anxious    to    learn,    and    always 
a-learning.     But  what  I  set  out  to  say  was  something 
about  buffalo,    and  killing  buffalo.     Now,    of  course, 
you're  a  boy  ;  a  pretty  sensible   boy,  FU  allow,  but, 
after  all,  you're  a  boy,  and  you're  liable  to  get  excited. 
Now,  you  know,  we're  travelling  now ;  we  ain't  here 
for  pleasure  ;  we're  trying  to  go  somewhere  ;  so  if  we 
come  on  buffalo,  right  close,  sudden,  I  don't  want  you 
to  go  crazy,  and  start  off  to  chase  'em.     You're  here 
now,  a-helping  to  take  care  of  this  pack  train,  and  you 
mustn't    lose   your     packs.      You'll    have    plenty    of 
chances  to  kill  buffalo ;  likely  you'll  have  a  chance  to- 
day;  but  when  you  start  in  to  kill  your  first  buffalo, 
see  that  you  go  at  it  right.     Now,  a  buffalo  is  awful 
easy  killed.      Where   they're  plenty,  you   can    creep 
right  up  close  to  'em,  and  kill  'em  by  still  hunting,  but 
of  course  it's  lots  more  fun  to  run  'em.     You've  got  a 
good  horse,  and  he'll  take  you  right  up  to  any  cow 
that  runs  on  the  prairie.     When  you  get  a  chance  to 
chase  buffalo,  remember  that  you  mustn't  shoot  until 
you  get  right  up  close  to  'em.     Ride  right  up  close  by 
the  cow's  side,  and  then  shoot,  and  your  horse  will 
turn  off  a  little,  so  as  to  get  out  of  the  way  in  case  the 
cow  should  charge.     You  needn't  mind  your  horse  at 
all ;  he'll  take  care  of  himself,  and  won't  step  into  any 
badger  hole,  or  fall  with  you  ;  but  you've  got  to  look 
out  for  your  riding,  for  if  a  cow  turns  quick,  and  your 
horse  has  to   whirl  quick,  you    may  slide  off,  if  you 
Jiaven't    got     the    horse     well     between     your   legs. 
Another  thing  is,  that  a  buffalo  stands   awful  high, 
and  you're  likely  to  shoot  too  high,  and  put  a  lot  of 


98  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

bullets  into  an  animal  where  they  won't  hurt  it  a  par- 
tide.  You  must  remember  that  in  a  buffalo,  as  in 
every  other  animal  that  I  know  anything  about,  the 
life  lies  low.  If  you're  on  a  horse,  you'll  be  shooting 
down,  of  course,  but  try  to  shoot  so  that  the  ball  will 
cut  the  buffalo  only  a  few  inches  above  the  brisket. 
I've  seen  lots  of  young  fellows  waste  ammunition  on 
buffalo  ;  fellows  that  could  shoot  pretty  well,  too ; 
only  they  didn't  know  where  to  shoot  ;  they  all  shot 
too  high.  The  boss  ribs  on  a  buffalo  stick  so  far  up 
into  the  air  that  there's  pretty  nigh  as  much  of  the  an- 
imal above  its  backbone  as  there  is  below,  and  that's 
awful  deceiving,  and  tends  to  make  a  man  shoot  high. 
Now,  I  expect  likely  you'll  remember  all  this  that  I've 
told  you,  and  won't  have  any  trouble  at  all.  You 
take  hold  of  things  about  hunting  quicker  than  any 
boy  I  ever  saw." 

"  I'm  much  obliged  to  you  for  telling  me  this, 
Hugh,  and  I'll  try  hard  to  remember  it.  I  expect  I'll 
get  excited  when  I  have  my  first  chance  to  shoot  at  a 
buffalo.  They're  so  big,  you  see ;  bigger  than  any- 
thing I  ever  had  a  chance  to  shoot  at." 

''Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "maybe  you'll  feel  that  way 
the  first  time  or  two  ;  but.  Lord  !  you'll  get  used  to 
it  after  a  little  while,  and  you'll  only  want  to  kill  buf- 
falo when  you're  hungry.  Mind  what  I  tell  you, 
though,  about  your  riding.  I'd  hate  almightily  to 
see  you  go  flying  off  your  horse,  when  you're  after  a 
bunch  of  buffalo,  the  way  you  did  that  time  last  sum- 
mer when  you  were  chasing  the  wolf." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Jack,  "  I  flew  a  long  way  that 
time,  but  I  hope  I'm  a  good  deal  better  rider  now 
than  I  was  then." 


BUFFALO.  99 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  expect  you  are.  You  ought 
to  be,  anyhow.  But  I  want  you  to  be  as  careful  as 
you  know  how.  There's  been  a  whole  lot  of  men 
killed  by  chasing  buffalo  ;  hooked  by  them,  or  had 
their  horses  fall  with  them,  or  been  thrown  a  long 
way,  and  had  their  guns  driven  through  their  bodies. 
I've  seen  a  lot  of  accidents  in  my  time.  Well,"  he 
went  on,  as  he  lighted  his  pipe  again,  "  let's  saddle  up 
and  move." 

As  they  rode  on,  through  the  afternoon,  they  saw 
more  and  more  buffalo.  Several  bunches  that  they 
passed  were  not  more  than  a  half  mile  from  them,  but, 
though  Jack  was  very  anxious  to  have  a  shot,  he  said 
nothing,  feeling  pretty  sure  that  his  chance  would 
come  before  very  long.  Toward  evening  they  came 
to  a  little  stream,  flowing  through  a  narrow  valley 
where  there  was  wood,  and  a  nice  grassy  flat.  Here 
Hugh  halted,  and  said  to  Jack,  "  I  did  calculate  that 
we'd  go  on  five  or  six  miles  further,  to  the -main  creek, 
but  I  guess  maybe  we'll  stop  here  and  make  camp, 
and  then,  before  we  eat,  we'll  ride  out  a  little  way  and 
see  if  we  can't  kill  some  meat.  That  last  antelope  is 
pretty  near  gone,  and  it  might  be  such  a  thing  that 
we  could  kill  a  bufTalo." 

**  All  right,"  said  Jack,  "  that  will  suit  me  first  class." 

They  took  the  packs  off  the  horses,  picketed  them 
out,  and  then,  tightening  their  saddles,  rode  up  out  of 
the  creek  valley,  and  toward  some  rough,  broken 
buttes  that  rose  from  the  prairie  two  or  three  miles  to 
the  west.  Half  an  hour's  riding  brought  them  to  a 
broken  country,  and,  dismounting  at  the  foot  of  a  hill 
rather  taller  than  the  others,  they  climbed  on  foot  to 


100  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

its  summit.  Here  Jack  saw  a  curious  sight.  To  the 
west,  many  buffalo  could  be  seen;  some  of  them  quite 
near  ;  others,  far  off.  All  of  them  were  moving  ;  not 
running,  but  walking  along  in  single  file,  one  after 
another,  like  so  many  cows  moving  through  a  pasture. 
"  Why,  what  are  they  doing,  Hugh?"  asked  Jack; 
"  and  where  in  the  world  are  they  going  ?  They  seem 
to  be  all  travelling,  but  in  different  directions.  I 
supposed  that  when  buffalo  wanted  to  go  anywhere 
they  all  ran  off  in  a  great  crowd,  but  these  are  walking 
along  slowly,  but  walking  as  if  they  were  determined 
to  ""o  somewhere." 

"That's  just  what  they're  doing,  son  ;  they're  going 
to  water,  and  each  one  of  them  bunches  that  you  see 
is  heading  right  straight  for  the  nearest  water.  Some 
of  them  look  like  they  was  going  right  down  to  our 
camp,  and  here  comes  a  bunch  that  are  going  to  pass 
right  close  to  us.  Do  you  see  that  trail  that  passes 
rieht  at  the  foot  of  this  hill  ?  Well,  that's  a  buffalo 
trail,  and  if  I  ain't  mightily  mistaken,  them  nearest 
buffalo  is  going  to  follow  that  trail,  and  come  right 
close  by  where  we  left  the  horses.  We'll  go  down  and 
get  'em  and  bring  'em  up  a  little  further,  behind  that 
shoulder,  and  sit  by  'em  until  the  buffalo  come,  and 
then  you'll  have  a  chance  to  kill  one,  and  we'll  have 
some  fat  cow  to  eat  to-night." 

"  That  will  be  great,"  said  Jack ;  "  of  course  I'd 
rather  chase  them,  but  then,  as  you  said  to-day,  we 
ain't  out  here  for  fun,  and  I  don't  suppose  it  would  be 
good  sense  to  run  Pawnee  down,  chasing  buffalo. 
He's  been  travelling  all  day,  and  it  wouldn't  do  him 
any  good  to  give  him  a  race  now." 


BUFFALO.  loi 

"  That's  good  sense,  son.  Take  care  of  your  horse, 
and  take  care  of  your  gun,  always,  in  this  country. 
When  we  get  to  the  Piegan  camp  there'll  be  a  whole 
lot  of  chances  to  run  buffalo,  and  to  run  'em  with 
a  fresh  horse.  It  would  be  just  fooHshness  to  do  it 
now.  Come  on."  Hugh  led  the  way  down  the  hill 
to  the  horses,  and  bringing  the  animals  a  little  higher 
up  the  hill  and  so  out  of  sight,  they  crept  over  to 
a  shoulder,  from  which  they  could  plainly  see  the 
buffalo  trail  passing  only  forty  yards  distant.  They 
had  not  sat  there  long  when  Hugh  touched  Jack,  and 
motioned  with  his  head,  and,  as  he  looked,  Jack 
saw  one  buffalo  after  another  come  in  sight  around 
the  point  of  the  bluff  until  twelve  were  visible. 
"  It's  a  little  bunch  of  cows,"  said  Hugh,  in  a  low 
voice,  "  and  five  of  'em  have  got  calves.  There's  two 
heifers,  and  one  of  those  you  want  to  kill.  Take  the 
last  one,  or  else  the  one  that's  third  from  the  end  ; 
they're  the  two  heifers,  and  they'll  be  fat,  and  first- 
class  meat.  Take  notice  of  these  cows ;  you'll  see 
their  horns  are  slim  and  turned  in.  A  bull's  horns  are 
a  great  deal  stouter,  and  don't  turn  in  near  so  much. 
Now,  pick  your  animal,  and  get  ready,  and  when  she's 
opposite  to  us,  shoot.  Try  not  to  kill  one  of  the  old 
cows ;  she  won''t  be  half  as  good  meat  as  the  heifer." 

Jack  lay  there  and  watched,  and  his  heart  was 
beating  fast,  as  the  buffalo  approached.  They  seemed 
to  walk  slowly  and  heavily,  kicking  up  a  good  deal  of 
dust,  their  beards  almost  sweeping  the  ground.  The 
little  calves,  to  Jack's  great  surprise,  were  reddish  in 
colour,  and  seemed  to  have  no  hump  at  all.  In  fact, 
they  looked  like   little  red   farm   calves.     They  were 


IQ2  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

strong  and  active,  and  seemed  to  be  very  playful, 
sometimes  running  short  races,  away  from  the  trail, 
and  again  coming  back  and  falHng  into  the  line  be- 
hind their  mothers.  Though  to  the  eye  the  buffalo 
seemed  ponderous  and  slow,  it  took  them  but  a 
little  time  to  get  up  opposite  where  Jack  sat.  When 
they  had  done  so  he  settled  himself  and  began  to  aim, 
and  Hugh  said,  "  Remember  now,  low  down,  and  a 
leetle  bit  ahead  of  where  you  want  to  hit ;  they're 
moving,  you  know."  Jack  fired,  and  all  the  buffalo 
stopped  and  looked  about  them.  ''Did  I  hit  her?" 
said  Jack.     "  I  think  I  must  have." 

''Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "you  hit  her,  and  you  hit  her 
rig-ht.  She'll  be  down  in  a  minute,  and  then  I  think 
the  others  will  go  on." 

In  a  moment  or  two  the  heifer  at  which  Jack  had 
fired  walked  slowly  out  of  the  trail,  and  lay  down,  and 
the  other  buffalo,  after  looking  about,  started  on,  and 
in  a  few  moments  had  disappeared  behind  another  rise 
of  ground. 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "let's  go  and  get  the  horses,  I 
expect  likely  she'll  be  dead  by  the  time  we  get  to 
her."  Jack  was  trembling  a  little  when  he  rose  and 
followed  Hugh,  but  by  the  time  he  was  in  the  saddle 
he  had  cooled  down  again.  They  rode  toward  the 
heifer,  which  had  fallen  over  on  her  side  and  was 
moving  still — not  quite  deado  Jack  was  about  to  ride 
up  to  her,  when  Hugh  said,  "  Hold  on  !  Wait  a  little ; 
give  her  a  chance  to  die."  They  dismounted  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  animal,  and  walked  around  to 
her  head,  but  still  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  distant. 
"  Now,. I  have  often  told  you,"  said  Hugh,  "  not  to 


BUFFALO.  103 

go  up  to  an  animal  without  a  load  in  your  gun,  and  I'll 
tell  you  now,  never  to  go  up  to  a  buffalo  unless  you're 
sure  it's  dead.     I  was  hunting  once   with  a  partner, 
trying  to  get  some  meat  to  take  into  the  railroad,  and 
we  shot  three  or  four  buffalo  from  a  stand,  and  then 
went  down  and  drove  the  others  off,  and  started  in  to 
butcher.     There  was  one  cow  that  was  moving  a  little, 
and  my  partner  went  up  to  her  to  cut  her  throat,  and 
when  he  had  nearly  got  to  her,  she  jumped  up  and  ran 
against   him,  and   threw    up  her  head,  and  then  fell 
down  dead,  and  when  I  got  to  him  I  found  that  one 
horn  had  split  him  open  from  the  waist  to  the  throat, 
and   he  died   while  I  stood  looking  at   him.     That's 
always   made  me  feel    scared  of  a   wounded  buffalo. 
That  cow  keeps  on  moving.     Just  fire  a  shot  into  her 
head,  just  in  front  of  the  horns,  and  above  the  eyes." 
Jack  did  so,  and  the  cow  stretched  out  her  legs  and 
lay  still.     ''  Lots  of  people  will  tell  you,"  said  Hugh, 
"  that  you  can't  kill  a  buffalo  by  shooting  it  in  the  fore- 
head.    They  say  that  the  skull's  so  thick,  and  the  hide 
and  the  hair  makes  such  a  mat  that  a  ball  won't   go 
into  It.     Don't  you  ever  believe  them.     If  you  shoot 
a  bufTalo  in  the  forehead,  and  aim  your  gun  right,  so's 
to  hit  its  brain,  you  kill  it  every  time." 

They  took  as  much  of  the  meat  of  the  heifer  as  their 
horses  could  carry,  and  returned  to  camp. 


CHAPTER  XL 

IN  THE   QUICKSANDS. 

"  There,"  said  Hugh,  one  afternoon  as  they  rode 
over  a  low  ridge,  and  down  toward  a  stream  flowing 
through  a  wide  valley,  "  that's  the  Mussellshell !  " 

''  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  it  don't  look  to  me  like  much 
of  a  river." 

/'  Well,  no,"  said  Hugh,  ''  it  ain't;  there's  a  heap  of 
valley  and  mighty  little  river.  There  ain't  but  one 
other  river,  that  I  know  of,  that's  long  like  this  one, 
that  carries  as  little  water." 

'*  What  one  is  that,  Hugh?"  said  Jack. 

''  That's  Milk  River,"  was  the  reply.  ''  We  cross 
that,  or  at  least,  the  heads  of  it  after  we  get  into  the 
Piegan  country.  That  stream  don't  rise  in  the  moun- 
tains, but  comes  up  out  of  a  lot  of  springs  and  swamps 
on  the  prairie  ;  so  all  the  water  it  gets  is  what  little 
melting  snow  drains  into  it  in  spring  ;  and  besides  that, 
it  flows  through  a  gumbo  country,  and  lots  of  the  water 
soaks  into  the  soil,  so  that  by  the  middle  of  summer 
down  near  its  mouth  it  is  often  plumb  dry,  or  what 
water  there  is  in  it  just  stands  in  water  holes  ;  it 
don't  run  at  all  Then,  in  spring,  when  the  snow  is 
melting  and  the  rains  are  on,  it  often  gets  over  its 
banks  and  floods  the  whole  country." 


IN  THE  QUICKSANDS.  105 

"There  don't  seem  to  be  much  wood  here,  Hugh; 
where  are  you  going  to  camp  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  we'll  have  to  camp  by  some 
patch  of  sage-brush,  and  use  that  and  buffalo  chips  to 
cook  with.  There's  plenty  of  wood  up  nearer  to  the 
mountains,  but  none  down  here." 

Camp  was  made  early  in  the  afternoon,  but  after 
they  had  taken  off  the  packs,  and  Jack  had  unsaddled, 
he  noticed  that  Hugh's  horse  still  had  his  saddle  on, 
and  was  feeding  about  the  camp,  dragging  his  rope 
and  bridle. 

''Why  don't  you  unsaddle,  Hugh?  "  he  asked. 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  "I'm  going  to  ride  along  the 
river  apiece,  and  try  to  pick  a  good  place  to  cross  ; 
this  here  creek  is  mighty  bad  in  spots — quicksands  in 
the  river  and  soap-holes  along  the  bank,  that  you  can't 
see  until  you  get  right  to  'em.  It  may" take  me  half 
an  hour  to  look  out  a  crossing  to-night,  and  that  may 
save  us  a  horse,  and  anyhow,  a  whole  lot  of  trouble  in 
the  morning." 

After  they  had  eaten  and  washed  up  the  dishes, 
Hugh  mounted  and  rode  off  up  the  stream.  The 
horses  were  feeding  close  to  the  camp,  and  Jack  took 
his  rifle,  and  walking  up  to  a  little  rise  of  ground,  sat 
there,  overlooking  the  camp  and  the  wide  valley.  He 
had  not  been  there  very  long  when  something  moving 
down  the  stream  caught  his -eye,  and  as  he  watched  it, 
and  it  came  nearer,  he  could  see  that  it  was  a  bird 
flying,  and  when  still  closer,  he  saw  tliat  the  bird  was 
big,  and  that  there  seemed  to  be  something  long 
streaming  out  behind  it.  Just  below  the  camp  it  came 
down  nearly  to  the  water's  surface,  and  suddenly  threw 


io6  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

out  a  long  neck,  checked  its  flight,  and  let  its  long 
slender  legs  drop,  alighting  on  a  sand-bar.  Jack  saw- 
then  that  it  was  a  great  heron  or  crane,  but  larger  than 
any  that  he  had  ever  seen.  He  thought  he  would 
shoot  it,  and  get  Hugh  to  tell  him  just  what  it 
was  ;  so  after  the  bird  had  stopped  looking  about,  and 
had  lowered  its  head  and  was  walking  along  the  bar, 
Jack  quickly  crept  out  of  sight,  and  running  down 
between  two  ridges  which  hid  him,  got  near  enough 
to  the  bank  to  take  a  shot  at  the  bird.  It  was  not 
easy  to  estimate  how  far  off  it  was ;  it  looked  like  less 
than  a  hundred  yards,  but  over  the  flat  bottom  and  the 
water  there  was  nothing  to  measure  the  distance  by 
except  the  bird's  size.  However,  he  took  a  careful 
shot  at  it  with  level  sights,  and  was  delighted  to  see  it 
spread  its  wings  and  fall  forward  on  the  sand.  He 
walked  to  the  edge  of  the  stream,  wondering  how  he 
could  get  the  bird.  The  distance  across  to  the  sand- 
bar was  not  great,  but  the  water  was  muddy  and 
whirling,  and  it  was  impossible  to  see  bottom,  or  to 
guess  whether  if  he  stepped  in  he  would  go  over  his 
shoes  or  his  head.  He  looked  about  for  a  stick  with 
which  he  might  feel  for  the  bottom,  but  of  course 
there  were  no  sticks  there.  He  put  the  butt  of  his 
gun  into  the  water,  but  could  not  feel  the  bottom. 
Then  he  sat  down,  took  off  his  shoes  and  stockings, 
and  rolled  up  his  trousers,  and  let  himself  down  over 
the  bank,  feeling  in  the  water  for  bottom,  but  he  could 
not  touch  it.  The  water  felt  thick,  and  he  could  feel 
the  little  particles  of  soil  striking  against  his  legs. 
Getting  up  on  the  bank  again  he  took  his  shoes  in  one 
hand  and  his  rifle  in  the  other,  and    walked  up  the 


IN  THE  QUICKSANDS.  107 

stream  a  little  way,  and  there  he  again  tried  for  bot- 
tom, but  found  none.  He  looked  at  the  bird,  so  near 
to  him,  and  did  not  feel  like  giving  it  up.  It  was 
hardly  thirty  feet  away.  He  felt  sure  that  he  could 
throw  a  rope  across  to  it. 

This  gave  him  an  idea.  Putting  on  his  shoes,  and 
thrusting  his  socks  into  his  pocket,  he  walked  up  to 
the  camp  and  took  a  sling-rope  off  a  pack  saddle,  and 
then,  with  the  axe  and  a  picket-pin  in  his  hand  walked 
down  to  the  stream.  He  now  had  in  his  mind  two 
ways  of  getting  the  bird  ;  one  was  to  tie  the  picket- 
pin  to  the  end  of  the  rope,  and  try  to  throw  it  over 
the  bird,  and  drag  it  into  the  water,  and  so,  across. 
If  he  could  not  do  that,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
would  drive  the  picket-pin  into  the  bank,  tie  the  rope 
to  it,  strip  off  all  his  clothes,  and,  holding  the  rope, 
try  to  wade  across  the  channel. 

It  was  not  hard  to  throw  the  picket-pin  and  rope 
over  to  where  the  bird  lay,  but  it  proved  very  hard  to 
throw  it  so  that  the  line  could  lie  across  the  bird. 
Once  he  did  so,  and  began  to  pull  in  very  gradually, 
but  before  the  bird  had  been  moved  at  all  toward  the 
water's  edge  the  pin  slipped  up  over  it  and  came 
away. 

Meantime,  Hugh  had  ridden  quite  a  long  way  up 
the  stream,  looking  for  a  crossing,  but  finding  none. 
Two  or  three  places  seemed  inviting,  but  his  horse 
was  afraid  of  them,  and  on  investigating,  Hugh  found 
that  bad  quicksands  lay  close  to  the  bank.  At 
length,  however,  he  reached  a  point  where  a  deep  buf- 
falo trail  came  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and  where 
buffalo  had  crossed  later.     There  were  some  stones  in 


io8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

the  bottom  here,  and  Hugh,  riding  in,  and  crossing 
the  stream  so  as  to  come  out  where  the  buffalo  trail 
appeared  on  the  other  side,  found  that  he  had  a  good 
crossing.  Then  he  turned  about  and  rode  back  to 
camp. 

After  Jack  had  thrown  the  picket-pin  until  he  was 
thoroughly  discouraged,  he  decided  to  try  to  cross,  him- 
self. He  drove  the  picket-pin  firmly  in  the  bank,  and 
tied  the  sling-rope  to  it,  undressed,  took  the  coil  of 
rope  in  his  hand,  and  then  let  himself  down  from  the 
bank  into  the  water,  very  slowly.  Before  the  water 
was  up  to  his  shoulders  his  feet  struck  the  bottom  of 
coarse  gravel,  and  he  turned  his  face  toward  the 
other  bank,  and  holding  the  rope  tightly,  with  the 
coil  in  his  left  hand,  he  began  to  go  slowly  out  into 
the  stream.  The  water  flowed  with  great  violence, 
and  two  or  three  times  nearly  took  him  off  his  feet. 
Soon,  however,  it  shoaled  a  little,  and  he  turned  up 
the  stream  to  reach  the  point  of  the  sand-bar  behind 
which  there  was  an  eddy.  In  a  moment  the  water 
was  only  up  to  his  knees,  and  he  was  just  about  to 
spring  forward  to  the  bar  when  suddenly  the  bottom 
seemed  to  give  out  beneath  his  feet,  and  the  water 
was  up  to  his  waist,  while,  piled  around  his  legs,  up  to 
his  knees,  was  a  mass  of  heavy  sand.  He  tried  to  lift 
his  feet  out  of  it,  but  the  sand  clung  like  great  weights 
about  his  legs  and  he  could  not  move  them.  In  a 
moment  it  flashed  across  his  mind  that  these  must  be 
the  quicksands  about  which  he  had  heard  so  often, 
but  of  which  he  had  known  nothing.  Stories  told  by 
Hugh  and  others,  of  men  and  animals  caught  in  this 
terrible,  unyielding  sand  flashed  across  his  mind   as  he 


IN  THE  QUICKSANDS.  109 

strueeled  to  free  his  feet.  One  pull  seemed  to  loosen 
his  right  foot,  and  he  lifted  it  a  little  way,  but  this 
left  him  with  his  knee  bent,  and  made  that  leg  use- 
less. The  sand  seemed  to  be  piling  up  higher  around 
his  legs,  and  now  it  was  half  way  up  to  his  thighs. 
He  was  frightened. 

All  this  had  taken  a  very  few  moments  and  luckily 
he  still  held  the  sling-rope.  He  drew  this  tight, 
and  throwing  himself  forward,  so  that  his  body  was 
almost  horizontal,  he  pulled  on  the  rope  with  all  his 
mi^ht,  and  at  the  same  time  tried  to  kick  with  his 
legs.  In  vain  ;  he  could  move  neither  of  them,  but 
his  thighs,  which  before  had  been  erect,  bent  forward, 
and  now  he  could  not  get  them  back  again  ;  to  keep 
his  body  erect  he  was  obliged  to  lean  backward. 
Every  minute  he  could  feel  that  the  sand  was  higher 
on  his  legs,  and  he  could  also  feel  that  the  water  was 
creeping  up  his  body.  It  seemed  but  a  few  moments 
since  his  knees  were  out  of  the  water,  and  now  the 
water  rippled  against  his  chest.  What  was  going  to 
happen?  It  could  not  be  that  he  should  drown  here ; 
and  yet  Hugh  had  told  him  of  men  who  had  been 
drowned  in  just  this  way.  He  must  try  again  to  get 
out.  He  must  do  something;  he  could  not  stand 
this. 

Suddenly,  he  remembered  something  that  Hugh  was 
always  saying ;  something  that  he  had  said  to  him  only 
two  or  three  days  before ;  the  sense  of  it  was,  that  a 
man  should  always  keep  his  wits  about  him  ;  and 
as  these  oft  repeated  words  came  into  his  mind  he 
seemed  suddenly  to  cool  off,  and  to  lose  the  excite- 
ment that  he  had  been  feeling.       His  mind   worked 


no  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

fast,  and  he  said  to  himself,  "  Now,  what  would  Hugh 
do  if  he  were  stuck  here?  "     He  tried  to  think  ;  then 
suddenly  he  bent  down,  and  with  his  face  close  to  the 
water  began  to  scrap  away  the  sands  from  the    sides 
of  his  thighs.       He  had  been  doing  that  only  for    a 
moment     when    he    noticed     something  ;    the    sand 
scraped    away   on  the  down-stream  side  of  his  body 
seemed  to    come    back     at  once  ;  that  scraped  from 
the  up-stream  side  did  not  come  back,  but  left  a  hole. 
In  a  moment    he  comprehended  what    this    meant  ; 
that  on  the  up-stream  side  of  his  legs  the  water  was 
helping  carry  away  the  disturbed  sand,  while  on  the 
down-stream  side  it  was  packing  in  that  sand  all  the 
time.     In  a  m.oment  he  was  working  with  both  hands 
on  the  up-stream  leg,  and  it  took  a  very  short  time 
to  clear  this  almost  down  to  the  knee,  but  below  that 
he  could  not  get.     Suddenly,  he  threw  himself  down 
stream  as  hard  as  he  could,  wrenched  his  body  to  one 
side,  and  with  a  mighty  pull  dragged  his  left  leg   from 
its  fetter,  falling  down  in  the  water  so  that  its  muddy 
flood  covered  him.     He  righted  himself  at  once,  and 
kept  kicking  with  his  left  leg,  for  fear  that  it  should 
again  become  fast,  and  soon  he  had  trodden  a  hard 
place,  where  for  a  little  while  he  could  rest  his  foot, 
but  the  whirling  sands  soon  covered  it,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  keep  it  moving.      Now  the  water  had  car- 
ried away  the  sand  from  the  upper  part  of  his   right 
thigh,  but  he  could    not  free  it,  nor  even   move   it. 
Again  despair  seized  him,  and  he  did  not  know  what 
to  do.     He  looked  at  the  clear  blue  sky,  at  the  brown 
prairie,  and  back  at  the  horses,  quietly  feeding  near 
the  camp,  just  as  if  no  one  anywhere  about  was  suf- 


IN  THE    QUICKSANDS.  in 

fering   and    fearing,    perhaps   dying.     Oh,  if  Pawnee 
were  only  here,  and  he  could  take  hold  of  his  tail. 

Once  more  he  tried  to  free  his  foot,  struggling, 
jerking,  pulling  and  wrenching  the  leg,  until  it  was 
strained  and  sore,  but  the  unyielding  sand  held  it  as  in 
a  vise,  and  at  length  he  stood  still,  almost  exhausted. 
All  the  time  he  felt  that  the  water  was  creeping  up  a 
little  higher  on  his  body.  Now  for  a  little  while  Jack 
entirely  lost  his  self  control.  *'  What  does  it  mean  ?  " 
he  asked  himself  in  despair.  ''  What  is  going  to  hap- 
pen ?  Can  it  be  that  I  am  not  going  to  get  out? 
Have  I  got  to  drown  here  in  sight  of  camp  ?  Shan't 
I  ever  get  back  home,  and  see  father  and  mother 
again,  or  uncle  Will  or  Hugh?  Was  mother  thinking 
about  this  when  she  cried  and  kissed  me  at  the  train, 
and  asked  me  to  be  careful  ?  I  haven't  been  careful, 
but  it  seems  kind  o'  hard  that  she  should  have  to  suf- 
fer because  I  am  a  fool.  How  badly  father'll  feel, 
too,  and  Uncle  Will  and  Hugh.  They'll  all  think  that 
they  were  to  blame.  Oh  I  I  must  get  out,  I  can't  die 
here ;  "  and  the  poor  boy  again  struggled  until  he  was 
exhausted.  The  water  was  now  nearly  up  to  his  arm- 
pits, and  he  was  almost  worn  out. 

All  at  once,  as  he  looked  at  the  camp,  he  saw  Hugh 
ride  in  among  the  horses,  stop  and  look  about,  as  if 
trying  to  see  where  his  companion  was.  Jack's  heart 
gave  a  great  bound,  and  he  called  loudly,  but  Hugh 
did  not  hear  him,  and  began  to  swing  himself  out  of 
the  saddle.  In  despair.  Jack  yelled  again,  sending 
out  a  shrill,  high-pitched  scream  which  reached  the 
rider  and  made  him  throw  his  leg  back  over  the  sad- 
dle   and  turn  in  the  direction  of  the  river.       Again 


112  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Jack  screamed,  and  Hugh  galloped  rapidly  toward 
the  bank,  and  in  a  moment  saw  the  boy's  white  skin 
shining  above  the  muddy  water. 

**  Help,  Hugh  !  help  !  I'm  stuck,"  called  Jack. 

''AH  right,  son,"  came  Hugh's  deep  voice,  "  hold  on 
a  minute,  we'll  have  you  out."  He  galloped  up  to  the 
very  edge  of  the  bank,  sprang  from  the  saddle,  and 
quickly  freed  his  rope  from  the  horse's  neck,  at  the 
same  time  throwing  down  the  bridle  rein.  Then 
stepping  a  little  to  one  side  ;  he  coiled  the  rope,  made 
a  careful  cast,  and  the  loop  fell  over  Jack's  head. 
Jack  caught  it,  drew  up  the  loop  under  his  arm-pits, 
and  Hugh  quickly  took  in  the  slack  ;  then  he  walked 
to  his  horse,  drew  the  rope  tight,  and  took  a  double 
turn  of  it  about  the  saddle  horn. 

"  Now,  son,"  said  Hugh,  "  we've  got  to  pull  you  out, 
and  if  you're  badly  stuck,  it's  liable  to  stretch  you  con- 
siderable." 

''No  matter,  Hugh;  only  get  me  out  as  quick  as 
you  can,"  said  Jack.  "  I've  got  one  leg  free,  there's 
only  one  to  be  pulled  loose." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "we'll  go  as  easy  as  we  can, 
but  it's  liable  to  hurt  you  considerable.  What's  this 
rope  running  into  the  water  from  this  pin?" 

"  That's  around  my  body,  too,"  said  Jack. 

"Is  it  tied?"  said  Hugh. 

"  No,"  said  Jack,  "  it's  just  wrapped  around." 

"  Well,  make  it  fast  around  your  body,  and  then  let 
me  have  what  slack  you  can.  I'll  pull  on  that  rope, 
and  have  the  horse  pull  on  the  other,  and  maybe 
that'll  make  it  easier  for  you." 

Jack  tied  the  end  of  the   rope  about  his  body,  and 


IN  THE  QUICKSANDS.  113 

Hugh  took  in  the  slack;  then  he  loosened  the  lariat, 
turned  his  horse  so  that  his  head  was  away  from  the 
stream,  again  fastened  the  lariat  to  the  saddle  horn, 
and  put  the  sling-rope  over  his  own  shoulder;  then  he 
called  to  Jack,  "  See  if  you  can  dig  away  the  sand  at 
all  from  around  the  leg  that's  fast."  Jack  bent  down 
until  his  face  was  under  water,  and  worked  hard, 
scraping  away  the  sand,  and  again  succeeded  in  get- 
ting it  down  to  his  knee  ;  then  he  raised  his  head 
again,  and  called  to  Hugh,  "  I've  done  the  best  I  can, 
the  sand  is  down  to  my  knee,  but  it's  filling  up  again." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  we'll  start.  You  must  yell  if 
you  feel  anything  breaking."  He  bent  forward,  throw- 
ing his  weight  very  slowly  against  the  sling  rope,  and 
starting  the  horse  very  slowly  at  the  same  time.  The 
ropes  tightened,  Jack  was  pulled  forward  until  his 
face  was  under  water,  he  felt  as  if  he  were  being  cut 
in  two  below  his  arms,  as  if  his  legs  were  being  pulled 
out  of  their  sockets,  when  suddenly,  with  a  jerk,  he 
flew  forward,  was  buried  under  the  muddy  water,  and 
then  whirled  over  and  over  in  it,  and  a  moment 
later  was  dragged  out  on  the  bank  by  Hugh,  who 
bent  over  him  with  an  anxious  face.  Without  a  word 
Hugh  lifted  him  in  his  arms  and  put  him  on  the  horse, 
which  he  led  toward  the  camp.  Before  they  had  reached 
there.  Jack  had  recovered  his  breath,  and  said,  "  Oh, 
Hugh,  I  don't  think  I  ever  was  so  glad  to  see  anybody 
in  my  life  as  I  was  to  see  you  ride  in  among  the 
horses." 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I'm  glad  I  got  there  just 
when  I  did.  You  must  have  had  a  pretty  bad  time 
while  you  were  stuck  there." 


114  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

*' Yes,"  said  Jack,  "  I  don't  think  I  will  ever  be  so 
near  drowning,  and  yet  live." 

''You're  some  cut  by  them  ropes,  I  see,"  said  Hugh. 
And  Jack,  looking  down,  saw  about  his  body  two  red, 
bleeding  marks,  where  the  ropes  had  rubbed  his  skin 
off.  "Are  your  legs  all  right?"  continued  the  old 
man, 

"  I  think  so,"  said  Jack.  "  One  of  'em  feels  longer 
than  the  other,  but  I  can  move  them  both." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  *'  I  ought  to  have  told  you  not 
to  try  to  cross  this  creek  ;  everybody  knows  it's  bad 
for  quicksands,  but  I  ought  to  have  remembered  that 
you  didn't  know  nothing  about  this  country,  any- 
how." 

Hugh  lifted  Jack  out  of  the  saddle  and  laid  him 
down  on  one  of  the  mantas,  and  then  unrolled  his  bed 
and  put  him  on  that. 

"  Now,"  said  Hugh,  "  I'm  going  to  look  you  over 
and  see  if  you're  much  hurted."  A  quick,  rough  ex- 
amination showed  Hugh  that,  except  for  marks  around 
Jack's  body  where  the  ropes  had  pulled,  and  a  long, 
deep  scratch  on  his  leg  and  foot,  he  was  quite  sounds 
Hugh  took  some  sheep  tallow,  and  melting  it  in  the 
frying-pan,  applied  it  warm  to  these  scars  ;  and  then, 
telling  Jack  to  lie  still,  went  down  to  the  stream  again 
and  brought  back  his  rifle  and  clothes.  Then  he 
sat  by  him  and  talked  to  him,  telling  stories  of  the 
Musselshell  country,  and  the  Indian  fights  that  had 
taken  place  there,  until  darkness  fell,  and  the  boy 
dropped  asleep. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

RESTING   UP. 

When  Jack  awoke  next  morning  and  tried  to  move 
he  was  unable  to  do  so.  For  a  moment  he  could  not 
think  what  had  happened  ;  then  suddenly  the  events 
of  the  day  before  flashed  back  into  his  memory. 
Hugh,  who  had  been  sitting  by  the  fire,  saw  the 
blankets  stir  and  walked  over  near  to  him. 

"  Well,  son/*  he  said,  "  how  do  you  feel  this  morn- 
ing?    Pretty  stiff  and  sore  I  reckon,  ain't  you?  " 

"Yes,  indeed,  Hugh,  I  am  sore  all  over.  I  don't 
feel  as  if  I  could  move  ;  but  except  for  that  I  am  all 
right." 

*'  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  lie  still  awhile  till  I  make  break- 
fast, and  then  we'll  kind  o'  prop  you  up,  and  see 
whether  you  are  off  your  feed  or  not." 

Hugh  went  back  to  the  fire  and  Jack  could  hear  him 
walking  about  it  and  rattling  the  dishes.  He  wanted 
to  get  up  and  do  his  part,  too,  but  he  could  not  bend 
one  of  his  joints  without  its  hurting.  By-and-by  he 
managed  very  slowly  to  turn  his  whole  body,  so  that 
he  lay  on  his  side  and  could  look  at  the  fire,  and  watch 
Hugh  cooking  the  meat  and  waiting  for  the  coffee  to 
boil,  and  then  taking  the  pot  off  the  coals  and  setting 
it  in  a  warm  place,  and  finally  clearing  it  by  dashing  a 
cupful    of  water  into  it.     Then,  when    all  was  ready, 


ii6  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Hugh  brought  the  pack  saddles  close  to  Jack's  bed, 
piled  them  up  firmly  so  as  to  make  a  back,  and  then 
approaching  Jack,  put  his  arm  under  his  shoulders, 
lifted  him  partly  from  the  ground,  and  drew  the  whole 
bed  over  until  the  boy's  back  rested  against  the  pack 
saddles,  made  soft  by  the  piling  against  them  of  a 
number  of  blankets.  Hugh  did  this  so  very  slowly 
and  gently  that  the  bending  of  Jack's  body  at  the 
thighs  scarcely  hurt  him  at  all. 

''There,"  said  Hugh,  "did  it  hurt  you  much  ?  I 
reckon  you'll  feel  better  right  off,  now  that  you  can 
sit  up  and  look  around ;  and  now  if  you'll  eat  a  good 
breakfast  I  think  I  can  take  and  rub  some  of  the  sore- 
ness out  of  you  pretty  quick,  as  soon  as  it  gets  a  little 
warmer." 

"  Thank  you,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  gratefully,  "  it  didn't 
hurt  me  a  bit,  and  I  believe  if  you'll  help  me  a  little 
bit  I  can  get  up  and  dress  and  walk  around,  after 
breakfast.  I  hate  to  lie  here  doing  nothing,  It's  like 
being  a  prisoner." 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  "it  ain't  no  fun,  I  reckon.  I 
mind  once  when  I  was  laid  up  with  a  broken  leg,  I  got 
terrible  uneasy  until  I  was  able  to  hobble  about  a 
little  bit,  and  I  know  that  being  a  prisoner  ain't  no  fun, 
cause  I  was  one  myself  once,  and  I  was  sure  uncom- 
fortable." 

"When  was  that,  Hugh?"  said  Jack.  "I  never 
heard  about  that  before." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "you  go  on  and  eat  your  break- 
fast— here's  your  coffee  and  some  meat  and  bread,  and 
I'll  tell  you  about  it.  It  wan't  so  very  long  ago  ;  only 
about   ten   years.     I  was  working  on  a   ranch   at   the 


RESTING  UP.  117 

head  of  one  of  the  forks  of  the  Loup,  just  after  they 
first  got  cattle  in  the  country,  and  we  had  a  terrible 
lot  of  trouble  with  horse  thieves.  Doc  Middleton  and 
his  gang  was  camped  somewhere  in  the  country,  and 
some  of  the  best  horses  out  on  the  range  kept  dis- 
appearing all  the  time.  We  knew  it  wasn't  Indians 
that  was  taking  them,  and  we  knew  they  wasn't  run- 
ning off  themselves ;  so  we  calculated  it  was  white 
men,  and  we  figured  that  it  was  Middleton  and  his  out- 
fit. Still,  there  wasn't  anything  sure  known  about  it. 
Some  of  the  boys  were  for  catching  Middleton  and 
hanging  him,  but  it  was  easier  to  talk  about  that  than 
it  was  to  do  it.  He  generally  went  with  three  or  four 
men,  not  always  the  same  ones  though,  and  they  were 
all  of  them  always  heeled,  and  it  was  liable  to  be  a 
pretty  hard  matter  to  get  the  drop  on  them.  Nobody 
knew  where  they  was  camped,  but  the  hoys  that  was 
riding  on  all  the  ranches  in  the  country  had  orders  to 
be  on  the  lookout  for  them,  and  if  they  saw  any  signs 
of  where  they  stopped,  to  let  it  be  known  right  off. 

"  Finally  one  day  one  of  the  boys  came  in  and  re- 
ported that  he'd  come  on  a  horse  trail  pretty  well 
worn,  leading  down  into  one  of  the  cedar  canyons  that 
runs  into  the  Dismal,  and  he  beheved  that  Middleton's 
outfit  was  camped  in  there ;  and  from  the  way  the 
trail  looked,  he  thought  they  had  a  lot  of  horses  there. 
It  didn't  take  long  to  gather  up  a  dozen  men,  who  said 
they'd  start  down  there  and  find  out  what  there  was 
in  the  camp,  anyhow  ;  and  other  riders  had  been  sent 
out  to  bring  in  more  men  from  the  furthest  camps. 
Really,  a  dozen  men  wasn't  enough  to  tackle  this  gang, 
for  we  could  count  eight  or  nine  men  that  belonged  to 


ii8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

it,  and  if  they  wanted  to  put  up  a  fight  against  us  it 
wasn't  any  sure  thing  that  we  could  best  them.  Any- 
how, what  there  was  of  us  started  out  about  dark  and 
rode  down  within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  cedar  can- 
yon, leaving  fellows  along  the  road  to  bring  up  any  of 
the  other  men  that  might  come  in.  When  we  got 
down  to  the  stopping  place,  Wilson,  the  ranch  boss 
who  was  leading  our  party,  asked  me  to  go  ahead 
down  to  the  camp  and  see  how  many  men  there  was 
there,  and  whether  they  had  just  their  own  horses,  or 
a  bunch  besides. 

"  I  started  off,  and  when  I  got  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  the  camp,  left  my  horse  in  the  hollow  in  the 
sandhills,  and  went  ahead  on  foot.  It  was  easy  to 
find  the  place.  When  I  got  close  to  it,  I  could  see  the 
light  of  the  fire  shine  on  the  cedars  long  before  I  got 
within  sight  of  the  camp.  I  went  along  slow  and  easy, 
but  when  I  got  to  the  edge  of  the  canyon  I  could  not 
see  anything  except  the  fire  and  two  or  three  wagons, 
and  five  or  six  men  sitting  around.  Their  horses  were 
out  of  sight  somewhere.  I  slipped  down  a  side  ravine, 
and  keeping  pretty  well  at  the  edge  of  the  canyon, 
worked  my  way  along  until  I  got  up  above  the  men. 
I  soon  saw  that  there'd  been  quite  a  bunch  of  horses 
pastured  there,  and  going  along  a  little  further  found 
thirty  or  forty  head  feeding  in  the  canyon.  I  went 
pretty  careful,  because  I  didn't  know  but  I  might  run 
onto  a  horse  guard  any  minute,  for  it  didn't  seem  likely 
that  these  horses  would  stay  down  in  the  canyon  there 
unless  they  was  herded.  They'd  be  more  likely  to  get 
up  onto  the  prairie  where  the  grass  was  better. 

'*  After  I  had  seen  the  horses  I  went  on  back  till  I  got 


RESTING  UP.  119 

nearly  opposite  where  the  fire  was,  and  then  I  crept 
up  on  a  little  ridge  of  sand  and  looked  over  to  count 
the  men  and  see  what  they  was  doing,  and  how  they 
was  fixed.  I  lay  there,  I  guess,  fifteen  or  twenty 
minutes,  trying  to  take  the  whole  thing  in,  and  then 
suddenly  I  heard  a  little  rustle  in  the  grass  near  me, 
and  as  I  drew  back  out  of  sight,  a  couple  of  men 
landed  on  my  back  and  yelled  plenty  for  help.  One 
of  them  was  smart  enough  to  grab  my  gun  and  throw 
it  away,  and  we  just  scuffled  around  in  the  sand  there 
for  half  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  the  whole  bunch 
that  had  been  at  the  fire  jumped  on  me,  and  I  give 
up. 

"  They  hauled  me  over  to  the  fire,  and  stood  around 
looking  at  me  and  calling  me  names,  and  presently 
Doc  Middleton  says,  says  he :  '  Why,  I  know  that 
old  fool ;  he  works  over  to  Wilson's  ranch.  What 
were  you  doing,'  says  he,  mighty  mad,  '  spying 
around  this  here  camp?  For  two  cents  I'd  blow  you 
full  of  holes  ;  '  and  he  pulled  out  a  six-shooter  and 
stuck  it  in  my  face.  I  was  some  uneasy,  because  I 
knew  they  was  a  bad  lot,  and  they  was  liable  to  kill 
me  right  there,  and  hide  me  in  the  sandhills,  and  then 
skin  out  of  the  country ;  but  the  fact  is  they'd  been 
there  so  long  without  being  bothered  that  I  expect 
Doc  thought  he  owned  the  country.  And  at  last  after 
a  whole  heap  of  talk  they  tied  me  up  to  a  w^agon 
wheel  close  to  the  fire,  and  Doc  told  two  of  the  men 
to  sit  by  me  and  watch  me  all  night,  and  to  kill  me  if 
I  moved. 

''  I  sat  there  most  of  the  night.  The  two  fellows 
that  was  guarding  me  spelled  each  other ;  one  would 


120  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

sleep  for  an  hour,  and  then  the  other  would  wake 
him  and  give  him  the  watch,  and  then  he'd  sleep  ;  and 
pretty  soon  they  both  went  to  sleep. 

**  Whenever  I  got  a  chance  I  worked  some  at  the 
ropes,  mainly  those  on  my  hands,  and  at  last  I  got 
'em  free,  and  then  I  loosened  the  rope  around  my 
body  ;  but  I  still  sat  there  for  I  wanted  both  them  fel- 
lows to  get  good  and  sound  asleep  before  I  commenced 
to  sneak.  By  this  time  the  fire  had  died  down,  so 
that  it  didn't  give  no  light  to  amount  to  nothing.  I'd 
just  cast  off  the  ropes  and  worked  myself  around  be- 
hind the  wagon,  mighty  slow,  and  was  beginning  to 
crawl  off,  when  all  of  a  sudden  I  heard  horses  coming, 
and  the  first  I  knew,  the  camp  was  surrounded.  Doc 
and  his  gang  didn't  make  no  fight  at  all  ;  they  was 
too  surprised.  They  was  all  of  'em  brought  up  to  the 
fire  and  tied  up  there,  same  as  I'd  been  a  little  while 
before.  Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  fellows  came  into 
the  camp  I  holloard,  because  I  didn't  want  'em  to  be 
shooting  at  me.  By  the  time  the  camp  was  captured 
it  began  to  get  light.  Doc  sat  there  by  the  fire  and 
talked,  and  told  Wilson  what  an  outrage  it  was  that  a 
band  of  robbers  should  attack  a  lot  of  peaceable  cow- 
punchers  the  way  they  had  them.  He  swore  he'd 
have  the  law  on  'em  just  as  soon  as  he  could  get 
to  the  Platte  ;  but  Wilson  told  him  that  he  was  liable 
never  to  get  nearer  to  the  Platte  than  the  branches  of 
one  of  them  cedar  trees  up  on  the  bluff. 

*'  I  told  Wilson  the  way  they'd  mistreated  me,  and 
told  him  about  the  horses  up  the  canyon.  They  was 
fetched  down  ;  they  had  all  sorts  of  brands  on  'em,  but 
not  one  that  belonged  in  the  country.     It  was  always 


RESTING  UP.  121 

my  belief  that  them  fellows  stole  our  horses  and  sent 
them  down  into  Colorado,  trading  'em  off,  maybe,  for 
horses  that  they  had  stolen  down  there.  Anyhow, 
there  wasn't  a  particle  of  evidence  in  the  camp  that 
we  could  find  that  justified  hanging  one  of  them  men. 

*'  Wilson  gave  Doc  and  his  men  a  good  talking  to, 
and  told  them  they'd  have  to  leave  the  country.  He 
gave  'em  three  weeks  to  get  out,  and  then  told  them 
that  if  they  was  found  there  after  that,  they'd  be  killed. 
Well,  they  left  within  the  time  set,  and  that  part  of 
the  country  hasn't  never  been  troubled  with  'em  since, 
though  I  have  heard  of  Doc  in  a  good  many  places 
since,  and  always  with  a  pretty  tough  name." 

Jack  had  long  ago  finished  his  breakfast,  and  the 
sun  was  now  high  in  the  heavens  and  beginning  to 
beat  down  with  fervor  on  the  barren,  yellow  plain. 
After  Hugh  had  washed  the  dishes,  he  said  to  Jack  : — 

**  Now,  I'll  tell  you  what  I  want  to  do,  son  ;  I  want 
to  give  you  a  good  rubbing  all  over,  to  take  the  sore- 
ness out  of  you.  After  I  have  done  that  you'd  better 
lie  down  and  go  to  sleep  again,  and  then  toward  even- 
ing maybe  you  can  put  on  your  clothes  and  walk 
around  a  bit,  and  to-morrow,  if  you  feel  all  right,  we'll 
start  on  again.  I've  found  a  good  crossing  up  above 
here,  and  just  as  soon  as  you  are  able  to  travel  we'll 
roll  out."  Accordingly,  Hugh  gave  Jack  a  hard  rub- 
bing from  head  to  foot,  anointing  the  chafed  and 
scratched  parts  of  his  body  with  sheep  tallow,  to  which 
he  added  the  crushed  leaves  and  stems  of  a  certain 
plant  which  he  solemnly  told  Jack  was  his  medicine, 
rolled  Jack  up  in  a  blanket  and  left  him  to  sleep. 
When  the  boy  awoke  again  he   felt   fresh,  and  could 


122  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

move  his  arms  and  legs  without  much  pain.  Hugh 
helped  him  dress,  and  they  walked  a  little  distance  up 
and  down  the  river  from  camp  ;  and  after  supper  that 
night  Jack  said  he  certainly  felt  well  enough  to  go  on 
in  the  morning. 


CHAPTER  Xni. 

TO  FORT  BENTON  AND  BEYOND. 

Jack  was  at  first  pretty  stiff  and  sore  when  he  arose 
next  day,  but  as  he  moved  about  the  camp,  engaged 
in  the  work  of  helping  to  get  breakfast  and  preparing 
to  pack  up,  his  stiffness  wore  off.  He  told  Hugh  that 
he  felt  able  to  ride,  and  Hugh  replied  that  it  would 
be  better  for  him  to  be  travelling  than  to  lie  in  camp. 

Accordingly,  soon  after  sunrise  the  little  train  moved 
ofT  up  the  river,  crossed  without  incident  at  the  ford 
that  Hugh  had  found  two  days  before,  and  started 
across  the  valley.  Following  up  a  little  tributary  that 
flowed  in  from  the  north,  they  journeyed  onward,  see- 
ing all  through  the  morning  numbers  of  antelope 
which  astonished  even  Hugh.  They  were  chiefly 
bucks,  in  considerable  bands,  and  entirely  fearless,  as 
if  they  had  not  been  disturbed  for  a  long  time. 
Sometimes  a  band  would  start  from  below  them  on 
the  hillside,  gallop  out  into  the  creek  bottom,  and 
then  turning  parallel  with  the  pack  train  would  slowly 
gallop  along  not  more  than  forty  or  fifty  yards  dis- 
tant, occasionally  stopping  and  staring,  and  then  start- 
ing on  again.  Hugh  declared  that  at  this  season  of 
the  year  he  had  never  seen  antelope  in  such  large 
bunches  and  said  that  he  did  not  understand  it. 


124  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Their  camp  that  night  was  on  a  little  spring  at  the 
head  of  the  small  creek  that  they  had  been  following 
up,  and  high  hills,  almost  mountains,  rose  to  the  north 
of  them.  It  seemed  to  be  a  country  abounding  in 
game,  for  at  night  when  Jack  rode  out  to  round  up  the 
horses — since  it  was  thought  best  now  for  a  little  while 
to  picket  most  of  them— he  started  from  the  under- 
brush about  the  camp  no  less  than  seven  deer,  and 
none  of  them  seemed  especially  frightened  but  trotted 
off  and  stood  looking  at  him  as  he  gathered  up  his 
animals.  After  darkness  had  fallen  and  they  were  sit- 
ting about  the  fire,  Hugh  smoking  a  last  pipe  before 
going  to  bed.  Jack  said  : — 

*'  What  does  it  mean,  Hugh,  our  seeing  so  much 
game  here?  We  haven't  seen  antelope  or  deer  either 
as  plenty  since  we  have  been  out  as  to-day." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  don't  know  as  I  can  tell 
you,  but  it  appears  to  me  that  the  Indians  haven't 
been  in  this  country  for  quite  a  while,  and  it's  a  sure 
thing  no  white  men  have.  The  only  people  that 
travel  around  here  are  skin  hunters,  and  when  they're 
in  the  country  we  don't  find  the  game  tame  like  it  is 
here.  There's  lots  of  buffalo  been  here  too,  as  you 
can  see,  but  I  ain't  seen  any  right  fresh  signs  for  two 
or  three  days.  Likely  we'll  run  on  some  though  any 
time.  We  don't  want  to  kill  nothing,  though,  while 
we've  got  any  of  this  meat  left." 

"  No,"  said  Jack,  **  there'd  be  no  sense  in  shooting 
these  animals  down  just  to  let  'em  lie  there.  It's  lots 
more  fun  to  watch  'em  when  they're  right  tame  this 
way  than  it  is  to  kill  'em." 

"That's  so,"  said  Hugh;  "but  most  people  don't 


TO  FORT  BENTON  AND  BEYOND.    125 

think  that  way.  I  wish  more  of  'em  did.  Most  men 
when  they  see  anything  that's  alive  they  want  to  kill 
it,  and  they  want  to  keep  killing  as  long  as  there's 
anything  around  that  moves." 

The  next  day  the  two  passed  over  a  low  divide  be- 
tween high  hills,  and  soon  came  upon  water  running 
to  the  north.  Hugh  told  Jack  that  this  was  a  branch 
of  the  Judith  River,  that  runs  into  the  Missouri  from 
the  south.  ''  I  don't  know,"  he  said,  "whether  you'd 
call  this  the  main  creek  or  not ;  it's  lots  longer  than 
the  other  fork  that  rises  in  the  Judith  Mountains,  but 
it  don't  carry  near  so  much  water.  The  big  creek  is 
what  we  call  Big  Spring  Creek  ;  it  flows  a  heap  of 
water,  and  mighty  nice  water  too,  and  the  stream  is 
full  of  trout."  As  they  were  passing  down  the  stream 
Jack  suddenly  saw  Hugh  draw  in  his  horse  and  look 
long  and  intently  down  the  valley ;  then  he  went  on 
again,  and  as  Jack  passed  over  the  ridge  he  saw  half  a 
mile  ahead  what  looked  like  the  poles  of  two  lodges, 
as  Hugh  had  described  them,  but  they  were  not 
lodges  for  they  were  not  covered.  When  they  had 
reached  these  poles  they  saw  that  they  were  two  large 
tripods  about  twenty  feet  in  height,  and  from  the  legs 
of  these  tripods  were  hanging  hundreds  of  moccasins. 
Some  were  plain  and  some  beautifully  ornamented 
with  beads  or  with  porcupine  quills ;  but  the  curious 
thing  about  them  was  that  they  were  all  made  for 
little  feet  ;  in  other  words  they  were  children's  mocca- 
sins. Hugh  and  Jack  both  dismounted  and  walked 
around  the  tripods,  looking  at  them  carefully.  Most 
of  the  moccasins  were  about  three  inches  long,  and 
none  seemed  more  than  five  inches. 


126  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"What  are  these  put  here  for,  Hugh?"  said  Jack. 

"  Blest  if  I  know,"  said  Hugh.  "  It's  some  offering  ; 
likely  a  present  to  the  sun  ;  but  why  they're  all  chil- 
dren's moccasins  beats  me.  I  expect  they're  put  up 
here  by  the  Crows,  likely  ;  but  it  might  be  the  Gros 
Ventres.  You  see,  we're  in  a  kind  of  a  No-man's-land, 
here.  All  the  Indians  pass  through  on  their  way  to 
the  fort  to  trade,  and  yet  none  of  'em  has  any  rights 
here." 

For  several  days  after  this  they  travelled  over  the 
prairie  but  were  constantly  in  sight  of  mountains 
which  rose  like  great  islands  from  the  rolling  plain. 
Now  they  saw  buffalo  again,  and  once  on  crossing  a 
wooded  stream  valley  they  started  a  little  band  of 
cow  elk  with  their  calves,  which  trotted  swiftly  away 
toward  the  mountains  without  being  shot  at.  One 
night  Hugh  said  to  Jack  : — 

*'  I  expect,  son,  to-morrow  we'll  camp  with  some 
people  that'll  surprise  you  :  you'll  think  they're  curious 
when  you  look  at  *em." 

"  Why  who  are  those,  Hugh  ?  I  didn't  know  you 
expected  to  get  into  any  Indian  camp  now." 

"Well  no,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  ain't  said  much  about  it, 
but  if  I  ain't  mightily  out  in  my  calculations  we'll 
strike  a  big  camp  to-morrow.  More  than  that,  you'll 
think  the  people  that  you  meet  pretty  civilized. 
They  don't  live  in  lodges,  and  they  wear  shoes,  and 
some  of  'em  have  got  just  as  good  guns  as  you  or 
me." 

"Why,  who  can  they  be,  Hugh;  the  Red  River 
half-breeds  that  I  have  heard  you  talk  about  ?  I'd  like 
to  see  their  camp." 


TO  FORT  BENTON  AND  BEYOND.    127 

"  No,"  said  Hugh ;  '*  to-morrow  I  expect  we'll  strike 
Fort   Benton.     Have  you  ever  heard  of  that  place?" 

"  Why  yes,"  said  Jack,  "  of  course  I  have,  but  I 
didn't  know  we  were  going  to  pass  through  it.  Oh, 
that's  what  you  meant  by  their  not  living  in  lodges, 
is  it  ?     How  much  of  a  place  is  Fort  Benton  ?  " 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''I  don't  rightly  know  how 
many  people  live  there,  but  I  expect  it  must  be  nigh 
onto  a  thousand.  You  take  it  when  the  furs  and  the 
robes  are  coming  in  in  the  fall  and  Benton's  a  mighty 
lively  place.  It's  the  furthest  point  up  the  river,  you 
know,  where  the  steam-boats  can  come,  and  all  the 
robes  are  brought  in  there  and  taken  down  by  the 
steam-boats  now.  In  old  times  they  used  to  go 
down  in  flat  boats,  batteaux  we  used  to  call  'em. 
The  river  must  be  full  now,  and  likely  we'll  see  two 
or  three  steam-boats  tied  up  there,  from  down  below, 
loading  with  furs.  You  see,  they  bring  up  grub  and 
trade  goods,  and  then  load  up  with  robes  and  go  on 
down  again. 

"  I  don't  want  to  stop  there  long;  just  over  night, 
maybe ;  but  likely  we'll  find  some  Piegans  in  there, 
and  if  we  do,  they  can  tell  us  where  the  camp  is.  I'd 
like  to  have  you  see  the  old  'dobe  Fort  that's  there, 
the  first  trading  post  built  on  the  river  up  here." 

"  My  !  "  said  Jack,  "  I'd  like  to  see  that.  Then  be- 
sides that,  Hugh,  there  must  be  lots  of  old  mountain 
men  at  Benton,  ain't  there?  I  should  think  they'd 
have  interesting  stories  to  tell  of  the  old  times." 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''  I  expect  there  is  quite  a  few 
in  there,  but  I've  noticed  that  a  good  many  of  these 
old  timers  don't  seem  to  have  much  to  tell  that's  very 


128  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

interesting;  the  main  things  that  they  remember  are 
about  some  time  when  they  came  with  a  big  load  of 
furs  and  sold  them  at  a  big  price,  and  then  had  a  ter- 
rible fine  drunk  with  the  money.  I  don't  guess  most 
of  the  stories  they'd  tell  would  interest  you  very 
much.  Still,  might  be  such  a  thing  as  we'd  run  across 
somebody  that  could  give  you  a  talk  that  was  inter- 
esting and  true,  but  I  don't  look  for  it." 

The  next  afternoon,  shortly  before  sundown,  Hugh 
and  Jack  rode  into  the  streets  of  Ft.  Benton,  and  halt- 
ing before  a  great  log  store  and  warehouse,  Hugh  dis- 
mounted and  went  in.  In  a  few  moments  he  came 
out  again  and  riding  a  short  distance  down  the  wide 
street,  turned  in  to  a  large  building  which  bore  over 
the  door  a  sign  ''  Stable."  Here  they  unpacked,  piled 
their  possessions  in  a  corner,  turned  out  their  animals 
into  a  corral,  and  gave  them  feed  and  hay,  and  then 
Jack  and  Hugh  started  out  to  explore  the  town. 

**  I  reckon  we'll  sleep  in  the  stable  to-night,  and 
make  an  early  start  in  the  morning.  The  folks  in  the 
store  where  I  stopped  told  me  that  there's  quite  a  lot 
of  Piegans  in  town,  and  if  we  can  see  them  we'll 
find  out  which  way  to  go  to-morrow.  Now  let's  go 
down  to  the  river  and  see  the  old  fort." 

It  did  not  seem  to  Jack  as  if  very  much  of  the  fort 
was  left,  though  the  tumbled-down  walls  and  one  of 
the  old  bastions,  washed  and  guttered  by  the  rains  of 
many  years,  still  stood  upright  in  part.  To  any  one 
interested  in  the  old  West  or  the  fur  trade,  the  ground 
on  which  Jack  stood  was  historic,  and  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  as  soon  as  he  got  back  east  he  would  find  out 
from  the  books  all  that  he  could  about    Fort   Benton. 


TO  FORT  BENTON  AND  BEYOND.    129 

Hugh  could  not  tell  him  very  much; he  thought  It  was 
built  about  1848  or  '49,  or  maybe  earlier,  and  he  knew 
that  it  was  the  place  where  the  Indians  used  to  trade 
in  the  old  days. 

Sauntering  along  the  high  bank  of  the  river,  toward 
the  edge  of  the  settlement,  Hugh's  eye  at  length  de- 
tected three  or  four  buffalo-skin  lodges  standing 
among  the  sage-brush  near  the  water.  They  walked 
over  to  them  and  soon  saw  that  they  were  in  an  In- 
dian camp,  and  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  Hugh 
addressed  a  naked  man  who  was  lying  in  the  shade, 
speaking  to  him  in  his  own  tongue.  A  sentence  or 
two  seemed  to  galvanize  the  man,  who  sprang  to  his 
feet  and  shook  Hugh's  hand  heartily,  talking  volubly 
in  his  own  tongue.  After  a  brief  conversation  Hugh 
turned  to  Jack  and  said  : — 

'*  They  say  the  main  camp  is  over  on  the  St.  Mary's 
River,  quite  a  long  way  from  here,  and  I  expect  we'll 
have  to  go  over  there  to  join  them.  Old  Four  Bears, 
here,  says  he  is  going  back  in  three  or  four  days,  and 
wants  us  to  wait  for  him,  but  I  reckon  we'll  start  on 
to-morrow  morning,  and  get  there  as  quick  as  we  can. 
An  Indian's  three  or  four  days  is  likely  to  spin  out 
pretty  long." 

That  night,  for  the  first  time  in  weeks,  Jack  and 
Hugh  ate  their  supper  sitting  in  chairs  at  a  table  in 
the  Fort  Benton  hotel.  They  slept  that  night  in  the 
stable,  and  the  next  morning  replenished  their  stock 
of  flour,  coffee  and  other  provisions,  and  immediately 
started  northwest  in  search  of  the  Piegan  camp.  For 
several  days  they  travelled  northward  over  the  rolling 
prairie,    without    adventure.     Buffalo  were   often    in 


130  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

sight,  antelope  were  abundant,  and  sometimes  on 
crossing  important  streams  like  the  Teton,  Birch 
Creek  and  Badger  Creek,  they  started  deer  from  the 
willows  along  the  stream.  Several  times  they  came 
upon  small  camps  of  Indians,  and  Hugh  usually 
stopped  to  inquire  of  these  small  parties  where  the 
main  camp  was.  All  the  people  whom  he  spoke  with 
agreed  that  it  was  on  the  St.  Mary's  River,  and  all 
said  that  they  were  about  to  start  north  to  join  it. 

Soon  after  they  had  left  Fort  Benton,  the  great 
mountains  to  the  westward  had  begun  to  be  seen,  and 
as  they  travelled  northward  they  seemed  to  draw 
nearer  and  nearer,  until  now  always  on  their  left  this 
great  wall  rose  up,  high,  jagged  and  snow-covered  far 
down  towards  its  base. 

One  day  they  made  a  long  march,  and  toward  night 
camped  on  the  shores  of  a  little  prairie  lake,  on  the 
surface  of  which  many  water  birds  were  swimming. 
After  they  had  made  camp.  Jack  went  down  to  the 
lake  to  get  a  bucket  of  water.  As  he  stooped  to  fill 
his  bucket  he  noticed  off  to  the  left  a  deep  bay  in 
which  a  number  of  large  birds  were  swimming.  The 
entrance  to  this  bay  was  narrow,  and  the  birds  were 
near  its  head,  so  that  it  seemed  to  him  that  by  going 
to  its  mouth  he  could  cut  them  off  and  keep  them 
from  getting  out  into  the  main  lake.  He  left  his  pail 
standing  on  the  shore,  and  running  to  the  mouth  of 
the  bay  found  the  water  there  very  shoal.  The  birds 
which  were  at  the  upper  end  of  the  bay  seemed 
frightened  but  made  no  attempt  to  fly,  though  flap- 
ping clumsily  along  on  the  water  away  from  him. 
He  could    now  see  that  they  were  geese,   and  as  he 


TO  FORT  BENTON  AND  BEYOND.        131 

thought,  young  ones.  He  waded  into  the  water 
which,  at  the  middle  of  the  mouth,  was  not  more  than 
up  to  his  knees,  and  began  to  walk  toward  the  geese, 
and  presently  these  walked  up  out  of  the  water  onto 
the  prairie  and  hid  themselves  in  the  long  grass.  Go- 
ing slowly  toward  them,  Jack  followed  them  out  of 
the  water  and  presently  saw  one  crouched  on  the 
ground,  its  head  thrust  in  among  the  grass.  He 
caught  it  and,  lifting  it  up,  found  that  it  was  a  goose, 
nearly,  or  quite  full  grown,  but  as  yet  unable  to  fly, 
for  the  quill  feathers  of  its  wings  were  soft  and  bent 
easily.  These  he  thought  would  be  pretty  good  eat- 
ing, and  looking  about  a  little  he  found  two  more  in 
the  grass,  and  killing  the  three,  went  back  to  his 
water  bucket,  filled  that  and  took  it  up  to  camp. 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  '*  I  was  beginning  to  won- 
der what  had  got  you.  Where  did  you  get  them 
birds?  " 

"  Why,"  said  Jack,  "  I  got  *em  in  the  grass  down 
there  by  the  lake,  and  I  thought  they'd  be  pretty 
good  eating,  so  I  brought  'em  along." 

**  That's  good,"  said  Hugh  ;  ''  they'll  do  right  well 
for  breakfast.  I  expect  you're  getting  a  little  tired 
of  that  dried  meat,  and  I  don't  know  but  I'm  ready 
for  a  little  fresh  meat  myself.  Better  put  'em  down 
there  by  the  saddles,  and  as  soon  as  we've  eaten 
supper  we'll  go  out  to  leeward  of  the  camp  and  pick 
'em."  While  they  were  doing  this,  Hugh  said  to 
Jack : — 

*'  It  ain't  but  a  short  day's  march  now  to  where  the 
camp  ought  to  be,  if  it  ain't  moved  ;  and  if  it's  moved 
it'll  be  easy  to  follow  the  trail.     We're  bound  to  catch 


ij2  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

up   to  *em  now   in    the  course  of  two  or   three  days, 
anyhow." 

''That'll  be  good,  Hugh,"  said  Jack;  "I  want  to 
get  into  the  camp  ;  that's  what  we've  been  thinking 
about  now  for  a  good  many  days,  and  I'm  glad  it's  so 
near  to  us." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   PIEGAN   CAMP. 

"  There's  the  camp,"  said  Hugh,  half  turning  in 
his  saddle,  as  he  drew  up  his  horse  on  top  of  the  hill. 
Jack  turned  Pawnee  out  of  the  trail,  and  trotted  by 
the  pack  horses,  and  when  he  reached  Hugh's  side,  he 
looked  down  on  the  first  Indian  camp  he  had  ever 
seen.  At  the  foot  of  the  long  hill  before  them  flowed 
a  broad  river,  and  on  the  wide  flat  beyond  it  stood  a 
great  circle  of  lodges,  stretching  up  and  down  the 
stream,  and  reaching  almost  over  to  the  farther  bluffs. 

"It's  a  big  camp,"  said  Hugh;  "all  the  Piegans 
must  be  there." 

"  Why,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  "  there  must  be  an 
awful  lot  of  people  in  all  those  tents." 

"  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  there's  quite  a  lot  of  'em,  and  I 
expect,  from  the  way  the  camp  looks,  that  maybe 
there's  more  than  just  the  Piegans.  There  must  be 
some  Bloods  and  Blackfeet  with  them.  Now  you  can 
see  what  a  camp  really  looks  like.  It's  only  once  in  a 
while  that  the  people  all  get  together  like  this.  I  ex- 
pect maybe  they're  getting  ready  to  hold  the  medi- 
cine lodge  ;  that'll  come  right  soon  now ;  about  the 
time  that  the  berries  are  ripe.  That's  the  biggest 
time  these  people  have,  and    I  expect   if   we're  here 


134  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

when  they  hold  it  this  year,  you'll  like  it.  There  ain't 
many  white  people  has  ever  seen  a  Blackfoot  medicine 
lodge,  and  if  you  see  one  you'll  be  in  big  luck." 

"  I  hope  I  will,"  said  Jack.  "  I  don't  know  what  it 
is,  but  I  want  to  find  out  everything  about  how  these 
people  live,  and  I  want  to  try  to  remember  everything 
that  I  see.  Now,  most  of  the  lodges  stand  in  a  circle, 
but  there  are  some  of  them  inside  the  circle ;  what 
does  that  mean,  Hugh  ?     What  are  those  for?" 

**  Well,  you  see  that  big  lodge  nearly  in  the  middle 
of  the  circle?"  said  Hugh;  "that's  the  head  chief's 
lodge.  He  stops  there.  And  then  those  two  smaller 
ones  on  either  side  of  it,  pretty  well  over  toward  the 
other  lodges,  they  belong  to  the  secret  societies,  that 
they  call,  '  All  Friends.*  " 

"  Secret  societies  !  You  must  be  joking,  Hugh  ; 
they  don't  have  secret  societies  among  the  Indians, 
do  they  ?  " 

"  They  surely  do,"  answered  Hugh.  "  There's 
about  a  dozen  or  fifteen  societies  of  men.  A  man 
starts  in  when  he's  only  a  boy,  not  much  bigger  than 
you  are,  and  he  keeps  going  along  from  one  society 
to  another,  until  he  gets  to  be  a  middle-aged  man  ; 
until  he  begins  to  be  old.  The  men  that  are  warriors, 
going  to  war  all  the  time — young  fellows  with  lots  of 
ambition — they  mostly  belong  to  what  they  call  the 
brave  society;  Mut'siks, they  call  it.  You'll  hear  all 
about  them  societies  if  you  stop  long  in  the  camp  ; 
but  the  brave  society  is  about  the  most  important  ; 
and  that,  and  two  or  three  of  the  others,  are  what  we 
call  the  *  soldier  bands  * ;  they're  kind  o'  like  consta- 
bles.    If  the   chiefs    order   anything    done,    and    the 


THE  PIEGAN  CAMP.  135 

people  don't  do  it,  they  tell  some  of  these  bands  of 
the  'All  Friends'  to  make  'em  do  it,  and  they  just 
have  to.  Sometimes,  if  a  man's  right  stubborn,  the 
soldiers'll  quirt  him,  or  they'll  break  his  lodge  poles, 
or  cut  his  lodge  to  pieces,  or  even  kill  his  horses. 
Most  folks  think  that  each  Indian  does  what  he  likes  ; 
but  you  can  bet  it  ain't  so.  And  if  you'll  just  think 
about  it  a  little  bit,  you'll  see  it  couldn't  be  so.  These 
people  have  got  to  live  together,  and  they  couldn't 
live  together  comfortably  if  every  man  was  doing  just 
what  he  wanted  to,  and  didn't  pay  no  attention  to 
what  was  good  for  other  people.  Now  suppose  there 
was  a  bunch  of  buffalo  close  to  the  camp,  and  a  man 
found  'em,  and  started  in  to  run  'em,  and  kill  a  lot  of 
meat  for  himself ;  he  might  scare  the  buffalo,  and  run 
'em  all  out  of  the  country,  so  that  the  other  people 
in  the  camp  couldn't  get  any  for  themselves.  That 
is  just  one  way  where  one  man  might  do  a  whole  lot  of 
harm  to  everybody  in  the  camp.  These  people  have 
laws,  just  like  white  folks  do,  and  they  have  to  obey 
the  laws  too,  you  bet.  Well,  let's  go  on  down  to  the 
camp.  You  start  them  pack  horses  ahead,  and  we'll 
go  down  to  the  ford  ;  it  runs  kind  of  slanting,  and 
we've  got  to  stick  to  the  bar,  without  we  want  to 
swim." 

"  Hold  on  a  minute,  Hugh,"  said  Jack;  ''what  are 
those  things  there,  that  those  horses  are  dragging?" 
Several  riders  had  just  appeared  around  a  point  of  the 
bluffs,  close  to  the  river  bank,  and  were  entering  the 
water  to  cross  to  the  camp.  Behind  each  horse 
followed  a  pile  of  wood,  supported  on  two  sticks  which 
the  animal  was  dragging.     Almost  every  horse  bore  a 


136  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

rider.  "  Why,"  said  Hugh,  "  that's  a  lot  of  women 
coming  in  with  their  wood.  Don't  you  see  each  horse 
is  dragging  a  travois,  with  a  load  of  sticks  and  brush 
on  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  are  those  travois  ?  I  want  to  see  how  they're 
fixed  on  the  horses.  They  are  a  good  deal  like  our 
wagons,  aren't  they  ?  Only  they  haven't  any  wheels," 
said  Jack. 

"  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  ''  that's  the  Indians'  cart.  There, 
you  see  the  way  that  first  woman  is  pointing?  You 
see,  she  doesn't  go  straight  across  the  river  ;  she  goes 
slantways  down  the  stream.  There's  a  big  bar  runs 
across  there,  where  the  water  isn't  much  more  than  up 
to  a  horse's  belly  ;  the  bar's  narrow,  and  on  either 
side,  it's  swimming  water  ;  so  when  you  cross  here,  you 
have  to  stick  to  that  gravel  bar." 

By  this  time  all  the  women  had  ridden  into  the 
Water,  and  were  crossing.  Hugh  started  down  the 
hill  toward  the  point  where  they  had  entered  the 
stream,  and  Jack  drove  the  pack  horses  close  after 
him.  When  they  were  part  way  down  the  hill,  two 
more  women  made  their  appearance,  and  riding  down 
the  narrow  ravine,  along  which  the  trail  ran,  entered 
the  water.  Hugh  and  Jack  were  not  far  behind  them, 
and  saw  them  stop  a  little  way  from  the  bank,  to  let 
their  horses  drink.  They  were  near  enough  to  see 
that  the  first  one  was  a  middle-aged  woman,  and  the 
last,  who  was  nearer  to  them,  was  a  young  girl. 

Just  before  Jack  and  Hugh  reached  the  water's 
edge,  they  heard  behind  them  the  thunder  of  many 
hoofs,  and  suddenly — driven  by  two  Indian  boys — ■ 
there  poured  over  the  bank,  almost  on  top  of  them,  a 


THE  PIEGAN  CAMP.  13; 

great  band   of  horses,  rushing  forward   at  top  speed, 
the  younger  ones  bounding  and  plunging,  with  heads 
and  tails  in  the  air,  nipping  at  each  other,  and  lashing 
out  with  their  heels  in  play.     The  leading  horses,  when 
they  saw  the  men  and  the  pack  train,  tried  to  stop,  but 
they  were  pushed  forward  by  the  throng  behind,  and 
obliged  to  keep  on,  but  the  herd  separated,  and  rushed 
down  to  the  ford  on  either  side  of  Jack,  whose  pack 
horses,  tired  as  they  were,  threw  up  their  heads  and 
seemed    to  want  to  join   in    the  race.     The  band    of 
horses  came  together  again,  just  in  front  of  Hugh,  and 
streamed  down  the  trail  into  the  water,  and  along-  the 
bar.     The  leading  ones  galloped  on  across,  toward  the 
older    woman,    who,  Jack    saw,    was    screaming  and 
motioning  with  her  hands.     This  stopped  the  horses 
in  front,  but  not  those  behind,  which  continued  to  rush 
into  the  river,  crowding  and  pushing,  at  first  against 
each  other,  and  soon  against  the  horse  ridden  by  the 
girl.     She  was  striking  at  them    with    her  quirt,  but 
they  could  not  get  away  from  her,  on  account  of  those 
that  followed,  and  in  a  moment  Jack  saw  them  crowd 
against  the  horse  on  which  the  girl  sat,  which  was  be- 
ing pushed  into  deeper  and  deeper  water. 

It  was  exciting  to  watch,  and  Jack  felt  afraid  that 
the  girl  might  be  knocked  off  Into  deep  water  and 
drowned.  Without  thinking  of  his  pack  horses,  he 
galloped  to  the  water's  edge.  The  loose  horses  im- 
mediately in  front  of  him  started  again,  and  then  the 
whole  bunch  made  a  rush  for  the  other  bank.  There 
was  a  confused  struggle,  and,  to  his  dismay,  he  saw 
the  old  travois  horse  run  against  by  some  of  the 
other  horses,  and  knocked  down  Into  the  deep  water, 


138  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

and  the  girl  and  travois  horse  both  disappeared.  He 
heard  Hugh  call  to  him,  *'  Ride  in  and  swim  for  her!  " 
and  closing  his  legs  about  Pawnee,  he  galloped  him 
through  the  shallow  water,  and  in  a  moment  the  good 
horse  was  swimming  over  where  the  girl  had  disap- 
peared. Jack  saw  the  old  horse,  still  followed  by  its 
load  of  wood,  striking  out  bravely  for  the  other  bank, 
but  where  was  the  girl?  In  a  moment  he  caught  a 
glea'rn  of  something  white  in  the  water,  and  almost  at 
the  same  instant  her  struggling  form  appeared.  She 
was  just  ahead  of  Pawnee,  and  a  light  pressure  on  the 
right  hand  rein,  turned  the  horse  so  that  he  swam 
close  beside  her,  and  Jack,  reaching  over,  caught  her 
by  the  shoulder  of  her  buckskin  dress,  and  pulled  her 
toward  him. 

As  soon  as  her  head  was  above  water  she  reached 
out  and  grasped  the  horn  of  his  saddle,  and  then,  after 
resting  a  moment,  drew  herself  close  to  the  horse, 
and,  helped  by  Jack,  clambered  up  behind  him.  By 
the  time  she  was  seated,  they  were  half  way  across 
the  river,  and  now  Jack  did  not  know  whether  to 
guide  his  horse  toward  the  other  bank,  or  to  swim 
back  to  the  bar.  The  double  weight  made  Pawnee 
swim  low  in  the  water,  but  his  head  was  stretched 
out,  his  nostrils  were  well  above  the  surface,  and  he 
struck  out  strongly— as  Hugh  said  afterwards — "  like 
a  loon  chasing  shiners."  The  question  as  to  which 
way  he  should  go  was  soon  decided,  for  in  a  moment 
or  two  the  horse's  hoofs  touched  bottom,  and  he 
climbed  up  the  rapidly  shoaling  side  of  the  bar. 

During  all  this  time  Jack  had  not  looked  about  him 
very  much ;  he  had  been  thinking  how  he  should  get 


THE  PIEGAN  CAMP.  139 

hold  of  the  girl,  and  then,  how  he  should  get  to  shore. 
If  he  had  looked,  he  would  have  seen  the  girl's  mother 
sitting  on  her  horse,  near  the  bank  where  the  camp 
stood,  scanning  the  water  just  ahead  of  him,  and 
twisting  her  hands,  but  uttering  no  word.  He  would 
have  seen  Hugh  gallop  into  the  water,  followed  by  the 
pack  horses,  and  ride  off  the  bar,  not  very  far  behind 
him,  and  then,  when  Jack  got  the  girl,  ride  back  to 
the  bar  and  go  on  toward  the  other  shore. 

Now,  when  Jack  was  on  the  bar  once  more,  he  saw 
just  before  him,  the  old  woman  sitting  looking  at  him, 
and,  hearing  a  splashing  in  the  water  behind,  he 
looked  around  and  saw  Hugh  following. 

"  Is  the  girl  hurt  ?"  called  Hugh. 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Jack,  ''  I  didn't  think  to 
ask  her.  Are  you  hurt,  little  girl  ?  "  he  added,  twist- 
ing in  his  saddle,  so  that  he  could  look  into  her  face. 
As  he  did  so  he  saw  that  blood  was  trickhng  down 
over  her  forehead.  She  did  not  answer  him,  but 
shook  her  head. 

In  a  moment  more  he  stopped  by  the  woman,  who 
reached  out  her  hand  and  took  hold  of  the  girl's  arm, 
and  spoke  to  her  ;  but  of  course  Jack  did  not  under- 
stand what  she  said,  though  he  felt  that  the  girl  shook 
her  head.  Then  Hugh,  who  had  come  up,  spoke  to 
the  woman  in  the  Indian  tongue.  She  replied,  and 
after  a  moment's  conversation,  Hugh  said  to  Jack, 
"  Ride  after  the  old  woman,  son  ;  we  will  camp  at  her 
lodge  to-night.  I  know  her  husband  right  well ;  he  is 
a  relation  of  old  John  Monroe's.  You're  in  pretty 
good  luck  that  you  fished  that  girl  out  of  the  river  the 
way  you  did.     You'll  surely  be  thought  a  heap  of  in 


I40  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

this  camp.  She's  Little  Plume's  daughter.  He's  an 
awful  good  man,  a  great  warrior  and  a  chief,  and  there 
won't  be  anything  too  good  for  you  in  this  camp  as 
long  as  you're  here.  I  expect  the  little  girl  hurt  her 
head  when  she  rolled  off  that  horse,  but  I  reckon  it 
ain't  nothing  but  a  little  cut."  He  spoke  to  the  girl, 
who  did  not  answer  him,  but  her  mother  spoke  for  her 
and  Hugh  said,  **  No,  she  ain't  hurt  a  mite."  By  this 
time  they  had  ridden  up  on  the  bank,  and  were  enter- 
ing the  circle  of  the  camp.  Jack  looked  about  him 
with  the  greatest  interest,  and  forgot  that  he  was  wet, 
cold  and  shivering. 

The  lodges  were  great  broad  cones,  and  each  one 
ended  above  in  a  sheaf  of  crossing  lodge  poles.  Be- 
neath where  the  lodge  poles  crossed,  on  one  side, 
there  was  a  dark  opening  from  which  smoke  poured 
out,  and  on  either  side  of  this  opening,  stretched  out 
a  sort  of  three-cornered  sail  or  wing.  Near  the 
ground,  the  skins,  which  covered  the  lodges  were  yel- 
low or  gray,  but  toward  the  top  they  grew  darker, 
and  some  of  them  were  dark  brown.  Some  of  the 
lodges  had  great  patches  on  them,  as  if  they  had 
been  mended.  Some  were  ornamented  with  curious 
figures.  Over  the  door  of  one  was  painted  the  black 
head  of  a  buffalo  cow.  On  another  there  was  the 
figure  of  an  elk.  About  yet  another  was  a  broad 
band  of  red,  on  which  a  procession  of  black  birds 
seemed  to  be  marching  round  the  lodge.  From  the 
points  of  the  wings  of  many  lodges,  hung  buffalo 
tails,  and  sometimes  great  bunches  of  this  black  hair 
ran  down  from  the  smoke  hole  to  the  door.  Scattered 
about    through    the  camp  were  many    people,   busy 


THE  PIEGAN  CAMP.  141 

about  many  different  tasks.  Groups  of  men  smoked 
together.  Women  were  busy  hammering  on  stones. 
Here  and  there  men  sat  by  themselves,  working  with 
knives  or  other  tools,  at  sticks  of  different  sorts.  On 
the  ground  were  hides,  over  which  women  were  bend- 
ing. 

All  these  things  Jack  saw,  but  did  not  very  well 
comprehend.  Meantime  they  had  crossed  the  circle 
and  approached  a  large  lodge,  near  which  two  women 
were  busy,  with  whom  were  two  or  three  little  chil- 
dren, and  by  the  lodge  stood  an  old  horse  with  a  tra- 
vois,  on  which  there  was  a  load  of  wet  and  dripping 
wood.  The  woman  Jack  was  following  called  in  shrill 
tones  to  the  others,  and  as  Jack  stopped,  they  hurried 
up  to  him,  lifted  the  girl  from  his  horse,  and  took  her 
into  the  lodge.  The  woman  motioned  for  him  to  dis- 
mount, and  at  the  same  moment  the  pack  horses  came 
up,  driven  by  Hugh. 

Jack  was  glad  to  get  his  feet  on  the  ground  once 
more,  and  to  stamp  about  a  little  to  get  warm.  Hugh 
said  to  him,  "  Go  inside,  if  you  like,  son,  and  get  close 
to  the  fire  ;  you  must  be  cold." 

"  No,"  said  Jack,  "  I'll  help  you  unpack  first.  I'll 
get  warm  sooner  if  I'm  working." 

"  I  believe  you  will,"  said  Hugh;  "that's  pretty 
good  sense.  It  won't  take  us  long  to  get  these  packs 
off."  Nor  did  it.  In  a  very  few  minutes  the  horses' 
loads  were  piled  up  outside  the  lodge  door,  the  pack 
horses  turned  loose,  and  the  saddle  horses  tied  to  pins 
driven  in  the  ground  ncc^r  the  lodge.  Then  Hugh 
and  Jack  went  inside. 

There  was  a  bright,  warm  fire  there,    evidently   just 


142  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

built  up,  and  Jack,  who  in  entering  had  hit  his  head 
against  the  top  of  the  doorway,  Avas  about  to  step 
up  to  it  and  warm  his  hands,  when  Hugh  laid  his 
hand  on  his  shoulder  and  guided  him  to  the  right 
as  they  went  in,  and  pressed  him  to  the  ground, 
and  both  sat  down  near  the  door.  The  woman 
spoke  up  quickly,  in  a  voice  as  if  she  were 
finding  fault,  and  motioned  toward  the  back  of 
the  lodge,  and  Hugh  rose  and  led  Jack  around,  almost 
opposite  the  door,  where  they  again  sat  down. 
"Now,  son,"  said  Hugh,  ''take  off  your  shoes  and 
all  your  outside  things,  and  try  to  get  dry.  After 
we've  set  here  a  minute  or  two,  maybe  I'll  go  out  and 
open  one  of  the  packs,  and  see  if  I  can  get  you  some  dry 
clothes."  He  spoke  to  the  woman  for  a  moment,  and 
then  turning  to  Jack,  said,  "  She  says  she  wants  us  to 
stop  here  until  her  husband  gets  back.  He  and  John 
Monroe  went  off  early  this  morning,  up  the  creek,  to 
try  to  get  some  deer  skins.  Pretty  soon  now  they'll  be 
back.  She  says  that  even  if  you  do  go  to  stop  with 
John  Monroe,  she  wants  you  to  sleep  to-night  in  this 
lodge,  so  that  her  husband  can  see  you  and  talk  to 
you.  She  says  he  will  not  forget  that  you  pulled  his 
little  girl  out  of  the  water.  She  thinks  you  are  a  good 
boy.  You  acted  quick.  When  you  grow  up  you  will 
be  a  good  man  and  brave.  If  you  go  to  war  you  will 
have  good  luck." 

Jack  felt  rather  embarrassed.  "Do  you  mean  to 
say  that  she  said  all  those  things  about  me?"  he 
asked. 

*' Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  that's  just  what  she  said." 
*'Well,"    said  Jack,  "of    course  I'm  awful  glad   I 


THE  PIEGAN  CAMP.  143 

pulled  the  little  girl  out  of  the  water,  but  anybody 
else  would  have  done  it  just  the  same,  and  if  I  hadn't, 
why  you  were  right  there  and  would  have  done  it,  I 
expect,  a  good  deal  quicker  than  I  did." 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "maybe  I  might,  but  you're  the 
one  that  did  it,  that  makes  the  difference,  and  I  ex- 
pect that  woman,  and  her  man,  too,  will  be  mighty 
grateful  to  you.  What  is  more,  they'll  talk  about  it 
all  through  the  camp,  and  you'll  see  that  everybody 
here  will  have  a  good  word  and  a  pleasant  smile  for 
you  to-morrow." 

Jack  had  taken  off  most  of  his  wet  things,  and  had 
thrown  them  on  the  ground  beside  him,  and  now  the 
woman  came  over  to  where  he  was,  holding  a  great, 
soft  buffalo  robe,  which,  with  a  laugh,  she  threw 
around  him,  almost  covering  him  up.  Then  she  went 
back,  and  in  a  moment  threw  across  the  lodge  to  him 
a  pair  of  boy's  moccasins  and  a  pair  of  leggings. 
Then  she  went  out  of  the  lodge. 

''Now,"  said  Hugh,  **  take  off  all  your  things, 
put  on  them  leggings  and  moccasins,  and  set  here  by 
the  fire  with  that  robe  around  you.  The  woman  will 
hang  up  your  things,  and  they'll  be  dry  in  a  little 
while,  and  then  you  can  dress  again  if  you  want  to. 
I'm  going  out  now  to  look  after  the  horses,  and  may- 
be to  look  around  the  camp.  Or,  if  you  like,  I'll  just 
see  after  the  horses,  and  then  come  back,  and 
when  you're  dressed  we'll  go  around  the  camp  to- 
gether." 

"I'd  like  that  best  of  all,  Hugh,  if  you  don't  mind 
waiting.  I  suppose  you've  got  a  lot  of  friends  in  the 
camp  you'd  like  to  see." 


144  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

'^Yes,"  said  Hugh,  *' I  expect  I  have,  but  there 
ain't  no  great  hurry.  I'll  have  plenty  of  time  to  see 
them  and  visit  with  them ; "  and  he  went  out. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

INDIANS  AT   HOME. 

When  Hugh  and  Jack  went  out  of  the  lodge  to- 
gether, the  sun  was  already  touching  the  sharp  peaks 
of  the  distant  snow-patched  mountains.  The  air  was 
cool,  and  the  sky  still  clear  and  bright,  only  toward 
the  east  it  was  beginning  to  take  on  the  shade  of  dark 
blue  which  foretells  the  night.  The  camp  was  active. 
Women  were  hurrying  up  from  the  stream,  each  carr^^- 
ing  one  or  two  buckets  of  water.  Men  were  walking 
here  and  there  ;  boys  racing  to  and  fro,  chasing  each 
other,  wrestling  and  shouting;  from  the  piles  of  wood 
''which  stood  near  the  door  of  each,  little  girls  were 
carrying  sticks  into  the  lodges  ;  boys  and  women  were 
tethering  horses  to  pins  driven  in  the  ground  close  in 
front  of  the  lodges  ;  a  few  men  were  coming  into  the 
camp,  with  red  meat  piled  behind  them  on  their 
horses.  From  different  lodges,  near  and  far,  came 
loud  voiced  callings,  while,  riding  around  the  circle  of 
the  camp,  just  within  the  lodges,  passed  an  old  man, 
who  constantly  shouted  with  powerful  voice.  From 
the  smoke  hole  of  every  lodge,  smoke  was  rising,  and 
toward  some  of  them,  naked  men  were  directing  their 
steps. 

"Oh,  Hugh,  isn't  this  great?"  said   Jack.     **  Hold 


146  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

on  a  minute  ;  let's  look  and  listen.  Isn't  this  wonder- 
ful !  I  feel  as  if  I  wanted  to  stop  right  here,  and  ask 
you  what  every  one  of  these  things  mean." 

**  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  expect  likely  you  never  did 
see  anything  like  this  before,  and  maybe  you  never 
had  no  idea  of  what  an  Indian  camp  is.  'Course,  it's 
all  a  pretty  old  story  to  me,  but  I'd  like  right  well  to 
tell  you  all  I  know  about  it." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  *'  let's  begin  right  now.  What  is 
that  old  man  doing  that's  riding  around  on  the  white 
horse,  holloaing  so?" 

"  Why  that's  the  camp  crier,"  said  Hugh  ;  *'he's  tell- 
ing the  news,  and  maybe  giving  the  chief's  orders  ; 
telling  the  people  what  the  camp  is  to  do  to-morrow. 
Listen  a  minute,  and  I'll  see  if  I  can  tell  what  he's 
saying."  He  held  up  his  hand  for  Jack  to  keep  silence, 
and  after  listening  for  a  moment  or  two,  he  smiled 
and  said,  *' Why,  son,  he's  talking  about  you,  now." 

''  About  me  !  "  said  Jack. 

"  Yes,  he's  telling  how  you  fished  Little  Plume's 
girl  out  of  the  creek.  You  see,  he's  kind  o'  like  a 
newspaper  to  the  camp  here  ;  he  tells  them  everything 
that's  happened,  and  what  he  was  saying  then  was, 
that  the  white  boy  that  came  into  the  camp  with 
White  Bull — that's  me — had  ridden  into 'the  river  and 
pulled  out  the  child  of  Little  Plume,  after  she  had 
fallen  off  her  horse  and  cut  her  head." 

'*  Well,  that's  funny,"  said  Jack ;  '*  I  never  supposed 
that  anything  that  I'd  do  would  be  worth  telling  a  lot 
of  people  about." 

**Well,"  said  Hugh,  "that's  what  he  was  saying 
then  ;  he's  getting  so  far  off  now  I  can't  hear  much  of 


INDIANS  AT  HOME.  i47 

what  he  says.  That  shouting  that  you  hear  from 
these  different  lodges  is  men  inviting  their  friends  to 
come  and  eat  and  smoke  with  him.  That's  a  great 
thing  among  these  people  ;  they  like  to  have  their 
friends  come  and  see  them,  and  eat  with  them.  It's 
just  like  if  I  lived  somewhere  in  the  east,  and  asked 
you  and  your  uncle,  and  a  lot  of  my  other  friends  to 
come  and  take  dinner  with  me." 

**Why,"  said  Jack,  ^'that's  just  w^hat  it  must  be,  a 
regular  dinner  party,  only,  instead  of  writing  the  in- 
vitations, they  shout  them  out  from  the  lodge." 

*' That's  just  about  the  size  of  it,"  said  Hugh. 
*'  Well,  come  on  now  ;  let's  go  over  to  the  head  chief's 
lodge,  and  sort  o'  report  to  him  ;  tell  him  we've  come. 
He's  a  good  old  man,  and  he'll  be  glad  to  see  us  both, 
I  expect." 

The  sun  had  set,  and  in  the  growing  dusk  they 
walked  across  the  wide  circle  to  the  head  chief's  lodge. 
Just  before  reaching  the  door,  they  passed  an  old  wo- 
man, who,  as  she  saw  Hugh,  gave  an  exclamation  of 
surprise,  and  spoke  to  him,  shaking  hands  with  him 
as  she  did  so.  Then,  after  a  moment's  talk,  she  turned 
and  shook  hands  with  Jack,  and  passed  on.  ''  Now, 
you  notice  that,  son,"  said  Hugh;  ''that  old  woman 
shook  hands  with  both  of  us,  but  you  mustn't  expect 
other  women  to  do  that.  She's  old,  and  her  husband's 
a  great  friend  of  mine,  so  she  knows  me  well ;  but 
most  women  won't  look  at  you  nor  speak  to  you, 
much  less  shake  hands  with  you,  until  they  get  to  be 
mighty  well  acquainted  with  you.     They're  shy  like." 

When  they  reached  the  lodge  door,  Hugh  bent 
down  and  passed  in  first,  closely  followed  by  Jack ; 


148  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

then  turning  to  the  right  he  advanced  a  few  steps,  and 
spoke  to  the  old  man  who  was  sitting  at  the  back  of 
the  lodge.  The  Indian  placed  his  right  hand  over  his 
mouth,  as  he  gave  an  exclamation  of  surprise,  and  then 
clapping  his  hands  together,  motioned  Hugh  to  come 
and  sit  by  his  side.  Jack  followed,  and  sat  down,  and 
in  a  moment  the  old  man  leaned  over  and  shook  hands 
with  him.  "  Ironshirt  says  he's  right  glad  you've 
come  to  the  camp,  son,  and  that  he  heard  this  after- 
noon what  you  had  done,  and  it's  good.  He  hopes 
you  will  stop  here  for  a  while  ;  all  the  people  will  be 
glad  to  have  so  friendly  a  person  living  with  them." 

Hugh  and  the  old  man  talked  together  for  a  long 
time,  while  Jack  sat  on  the  bed  before  the  flickering 
fire,  and  watched  what  was  going  on  in  the  lodge.  In 
that  half  of  it  which  was  to  the  left  of  the  door,  there 
were  three  women,  and  an  uncountable  number  of  little 
children.  Two  or  three  of  the  smallest  were  babies ; 
two  of  them  confined  on  boards  which  stood  against  the 
lodge  poles,  while  one,  a  little  older,  and  absolutely 
naked,  rolled  on  the  floor,  so  close  to  the  fire  that 
Jack  felt  a  little  nervous  lest  it  should  crawl  into  it. 
Two  little  girls,  six  or  eight  years  old  sat  on  the  bed 
between  two  of  the  women  ;  each  one  had  a  little  robe 
about  her,  and  above  this  robe,  and  looking  over  the 
little  girl's  shoulder,  was  the  head  of  a  little  puppy, 
which  every  .now  and  then  squirmed  and  struggled, 
seeming  to  make  frantic  efforts  to  get  free.  There 
were  two  boys,  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  each  of  whom 
held  in  his  hand  a  bow  and  some  arrows,  but  soon  after 
Hugh  had  entered,  these  two  passed  out  of  the  lodge, 
and  were  not  seen  again.     The  women  were  cooking 


INDIANS  AT  HOME.  149 

some  dried  meat  which  looked  to  Jack  like  strips  and 
fracrments  of  black  leather,  which  one  threw  into  the 
pot  which  hung  over  the  fire,  while  the  other  occasion- 
ally stirred  this  pot  with  a  stick,  and  watched  another 
which  was  partly  full  of  a  dark  bubbling  mass,  which 
looked  like  jam. 

The  talk  between  the  two  men  lasted  a  long  time, 
but  Jack  did  not  grow  weary  of  watching  what  was 
happening  in  the  lodge.  Suddenly  from  without,  and 
very  far  off,  came  a  long,  shrill,  quivering  cry,  and 
every  one  ceased  talking.  One  of  the  women  swiftly 
passed  out  of  the  lodge,  and,  after  a  moment  or  two, 
returned  to  the  door  and  called  out  something  to  those 
within.  Hugh  turned  to  Jack,  and  said,  "Somebody 
has  been  wounded  by  enemies.  Let's  go  out  and  see 
what  it  is  ;  "  and  they  rose  and  passed  out  of  the  lodge 
into  the  darkness.  There  was  much  excitement  with- 
out, and  many  people  were  hurrying  from  all  quarters 
toward  the  lodge  where  Jack  and  Hugh  were  to  pass 
the  night. 

"  What  do  you  suppose  it  is,  Hugh  ?  "  said  Jack. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Hugh,  "  no  more  than  you  do  ; 
only  what  the  woman  said  ;  what  I  told  you."  As  they 
walked  along,  they  saw  before  them  a  throng  of  people 
on  foot  crowding  around  several  men  on  horse-back, 
who  were  riding  toward  Little  Plume's  lodge.  As 
Hugh  and  Jack  pushed  their  way  through  the  crowd, 
they  saw  these  men  alight,  and  two  of  them  helped  the 
third  into  the  lodge.  Then,  presently,  when  they  had 
elbowed  their  way  through  the  crowd  of  men,  women 
and  children,  and  had  nearly  reached  the  door,  a  man 
stepped  out  of  the  lodge,  talked  for  a  few  moments  in 


ISO  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

a  loud  voice,  and  the  crowd  dispersed  as  rapidly  as  it 
had  gathered. 

Hugh  and  Jack  entered  the  lodge,  and  saw  there, 
old  John  Monroe,  and  a  small,  slender,  handsome 
Indian  sitting  on  one  of  the  beds,  eating,  while  on 
another  bed  a  third  man  was  stretched  out,  and  an  old 
Indian  knelt  by  him,  washing  a  wound  in  his  shoulder. 

*'  Why,  hallo,  Hugh,  h'  ole  man  !  You  was  come. 
My  glad  my  see  you.  Hallo,  Jack  !  You  come  too. 
That  good." 

"  Yes,  John,"  said  Hugh,  "  son  and  me  made  up  our 
minds  that  we  couldn't  get  through  the  summer  with- 
out coming  up  to  visit  with  you  folks  for  a  little  while, 
and  here  we  are.  But  what's  the  trouble?  How  did 
the  young  man  get  hurt?  Hallo,  Little  Plume  !  How 
are  you  ?  Okyi^  Jack  shook  hands  with  John  and 
Little  Plume,  and  for  a  few  minutes  all  the  men  talked 
earnestly  ;  then  Hugh  turned  to  Jack  and  said,  ''Well, 
I  expect  you  want  to  know  what  this  is  all  about,  son, 
so  I'll  tell  you,  but  you'll  have  to  start  in  and  learn 
Piegan  for  yourself,  if  you're  going  to  stop  all  summer 
in  this  camp,  because  it's  mighty  slow  work  to  have 
to  have  everything  interpreted  to  you.  It  seems  that 
John,  Little  Plume  and  Yellow  Wolf— this  young 
fellow  here— started  out  early  this  morning,  up  into 
the  hills,  to  try  to  kill  some  buckskin,  for  Little 
Plume's  wife  wanted  to  make  some  leggings.  They 
had  left  their  horses  and  were  hunting  along  on  foot, 
pretty  well  spread  out,  John  to  the  north.  Yellow 
Wolf  in  the  middle,  and  Little  Plume  to  the  South, 
when  suddenly  Yellow  Wolf  walked  into  three  Crows 
that  were  lying  hid  in    the  pines.     They    must  have 


INDIANS  AT  HOME.  151 

heard  him  coming,  or  anyhow,  they  saw  him  before  he 
did  them,  and  two  of  them  let  drive  at  him  with  their 
arrows,  and  one  shot  at  him  with  a  gun.  The  first 
arrow,  he  thinks,  hit  him  in  the  shoulder,  striking  the 
bone,  and  kind  o'  turned  him  around,  and  he  dropped. 
The  other  arrow  and  the  gun  missed  him.  When  he 
fell,  the  three  Indians  jumped  forward  to  strike  him, 
but  he  raised  up  and  let  fly  with  his  old  fuke,  and 
killed  the  leading  man,  and  then  he  pulled  his  bow  and 
arrow  and  shot  at  the  second  man.  This  made  'em 
see  that  he  wasn't  dead,  and  both  the  Crows  dodged 
into  the  brush.  When  John  and  Little  Plume  heard 
the  two  shots  so  close  together,  they  knew  that  Yellow 
Wolf  had  been  attacked,  and  they  both  came  down 
to  see  what  was  the  matter,  and  when  the  two  Crows 
heard  them  coming,  they  got  up  and  skipped  out  as 
lively  as  they  knew  how.  John  got  a  shot  at  one  of 
'em,  but  he  don't  think  he  hit  him.  The  country  there 
is  rough  and  broken  with  lots  of  pines,  and  they  didn't 
know  but  there  might  be  a  big  party  of  Crows  some- 
wheres  near,  and  the  boy  here  was  wounded,  so  they 
struck  the  enemy  and  took  his  scalp,  and  g"ot  the  boy 
back  to  the  horses  and  brought  him  in.  Little  Plume's 
going  to  take  a  lot  of  young  men  out  there  in  the 
morning,  and  see  if  they  can  find  them  Crows.  I  ex- 
pect likely  it  was  just  a  little  party  coming  down  to 
steal  the  Piegans'  horses.  Likely  they'll  travel  all 
night  and  be  far  enough  away  before  morning  comes. 
Little  Plume  says  that  there  may  be  a  big  war  party 
not  far  off,  and  thinks  that  the  young  men  ought  to 
stand  guard  over  their  horses  to-night :  but  I  expect 
they  won't  do  it.     An  Indian  will  take  all  sorts  of  pre- 


152  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

cautions  to  avoid  being  surprised,  except  the  precau- 
tion of  staying  awake.  They  have  got  to  be  pretty 
badly  scared  before  they'll  do  that.  They're  great 
fellows  to  take  their  natural  rest." 

"Well,  how  is  the  young  man,  Hugh,"  said  Jack; 
*'is  he  badly  hurt?" 

''  No,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  reckon  not.  I  haven't  looked 
at  him,  but  from  what  these  men  say,  I  judge  he'll  be 
all  right  in  a  few  days.  I'll  ask  Red  Bear,  there  ;  he's 
doctoring  him."  He  spoke  to  the  old  man,  who  had 
finished  attending  to  Yellow  Wolf,  and  was  now 
gravely  smoking  a  long  pipe  that  Little  Plume  had 
passed  to  him.  He  spoke  a  few  words,  and  Hugh 
said  to  Jack,  *' The  old  man  says  that  he's  not  badly 
hurt ;  that  before  long  he  will  be  quite  well." 

A  little  later.  Little  Plume  spoke  to  Hugh  quite  ear- 
nestly for  some  moments,  and  then  stood  on  his  feet, 
reached  over  and  shook  Jack's  hand.  "  He  says," 
said  Hugh,  *'  that  his  woman  told  him  what  you  did 
this  afternoon,  and  he  will  always  remember  it ; 
that  you  will  always  be  like  a  son  to  him,  because 
you  saved  the  life  of  his  little  girl.  He  cannot  tell 
you  much  of  what  he  feels,  but  his  heart  is  big 
toward  you.  He  wants  you  to  stop  here  in  this 
lodge  as  long  as  you  can,  and  if  you  see  anything  of 
his  that  you  want,  you  must  take  it,  for  it  is  yours." 

*'  Well,"  said  Jack,  *'  I  don't  see  why  they  make  so 
much  of  a  fuss  over  my  getting  the  girl  to  shore.  If 
he  wants  to  thank  anybody,  he  ought  to  thank  Pawnee. 
I  could  not  have  done  anything  without  him.  Tell 
him  that  I  am  glad  I  could   help  the  little   girl,  and 


INDIANS  AT  HOME.  153 

that  it  makes  me  feel  good  that  he  should  be  friendly 
toward  me." 

For  a  long  time  they  sat  there  by  the  fire,  the  men 
talking  in  a  language  that  Jack  could  not  understand, 
while  he  listened  to  the  sounds  without,  and  watched 
the  sights  within.  Now  and  then  would  be  heard  the 
swift  galloping  of  a  horse,  as  some  one  rode  rapidly 
across  the  circle  of  the  camp.  Young  men  shouted 
shrilly  to  each  other.  From  various  points  came  the 
sound  of  drumming  and  of  distant  singing.  Now  and 
then  a  party  of  four  or  five  would  pass  by  on  foot, 
chanting  some  plaintive,  melancholy  air.  There  was 
a  distant  hum  of  voices,  above  which  occasionally  rose 
the  sweetly  shrill  laugh  of  a  woman.  Within  the 
lodge,  the  fire  snapped  and  flickered.  One  by  one  the 
women  and  children  lay  down  upon  their  beds,  and 
wrapped  their  brown  robes  about  them,  and  lay  still. 
The  men  talked  on  and  the  long-stemmed  pipe  passed 
from  hand  to  hand.  As  the  men  talked,  their  hands 
flew  in  the  graceful  gesticulations  of  the  sign  language, 
and  sometimes  Jack  imagined  that  he  could  tell  what 
it  was  that  they  were  talking  about.  Jack  watched 
and  listened,  and  listened  and  watched,  but  by  and  by 
his  eyes  grew  dim,  and  he  began  to  nod. 

Hugh  noticed  this  after  a  little,  and  turning  to  him, 
said,  *'  Well,  son,  I  reckon  you're  tired.  We've  had  a 
long  day,  and  I  expect  you'd  like  to  go  to  sleep. 
There's  your  bed,"  he  added,  pointing,  *'  under  where 
your  [_clothes  hang.  You'd  better  turn  in  in  them 
buffalo  robes,  and  get  a  good  night's  rest."  Jack  was 
glad  to  do  it,  and  before  long  had  forgotten  where  he 
was. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AN  INDIAN   FRIEND. 

The  next  few  days  Jack  spent  in  the  camp,  going 
about  from  lodge  to  lodge  with  Hugh,  being  intro- 
duced to  his  friends,  being  invited  to  feast  by  them, 
and  listening  to  their  speeches  and  stories,  which,  of 
course,  he  did  not  understand  at  all.  There  was  so 
much  that  was  strange,  in  this  simple  savage  life  that 
he  did  not  get  tired  of  watching  the  people  and  won- 
dering what  their  different  actions  meant. 

One  day  Hugh  had  gone  off  to  the  head  chiefs 
lodge,  and  had  left  Jack  alone  in  front  of  their  home. 
The  sun  shone  brightly  down  on  the  camp,  but  a  cool 
breeze,  laden  with  the  breath  of  the  snow  fields  far 
above,  swept  down  from  the  mountains  and  made 
Jack  feel  chilly.  He  sat  down  in  the  lee  of  the  lodge, 
where  it  was  warm  and  comfortable  in  the  sun.  Be- 
fore he  had  been  there  very  long  a  shadow  fell  across 
the  ground,  and  he  looked  up  to  see  standing  near 
him  an  Indian  boy  about  his  own  age.  Presently  the 
boy  sat  down  beside  him  and  began  to  make  signs, 
often  pointing  up  toward  the  mountains,  but  Jack 
understood  nothing  of  what  he  wished  to  say,  and  at 
length  the  boy  seemed  to  become  discouraged,  and 
stopped  making  signs,  and  they  sat  there  side  by  side 
looking  at  each  other.     Jack  saw  that  he  had  no  braids 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  155 

hanging  down  on  each  side  of  his  face,  as  all  the  other 
children  had.  His  hair  seemed  to  have  been  cut  off, 
and  now,  although  it  was  long  and  hanging  down  on 
his  shoulders,  it  was  not  yet  long  enough  to  be  braided. 
Instead  of  being  naked,  as  most  boys  of  his  age  in  the 
camp  were,  this  boy  wore  leggings  and  a  shirt  of  buck- 
skin.    He  had  a  pleasant,  intelligent  face. 

After  sitting  there  for  a  little  while,  to  Jack's  great 
astonishment  the  boy  suddenly  said  :  "  How  you 
like  it  here?  " 

*'  Why — why  !  "  stammered  Jack,  *'  first  class.  But 
what  makes  you  talk  English  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  said  the  boy,  ''  I  talk  English  all  right.  I 
was  raised  with  white  people  in  Benton.  I  have  been 
to  school  four  or  five  years,  and  I  can  read  and  write 
pretty  good.  My  name's  Joe ;  Bloodman,  they  call 
me  in  Piegan." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  ''  I'm  mighty  glad  to  know  you  ; 
glad  to  find  anybody  here  in  the  camp  that  I  can  talk 
to  besides  Hugh  and  old  John  Monroe.*' 

"Oh,"  said  Joe,  "there's  quite  a  few  people  in  this 
camp  that  can  talk  some  English  ;  there'll  be  more 
when  they've  all  moved  in.  There's  some  white  men 
here  that  have  Indian  wives,  and  some  of  their  children 
can  talk  English  pretty  good,  too." 

"Yes,"  said  Jack,  "Hugh  told  me  about  that; 
but  I  haven't  seen  anybody  yet  that  seemed  to  be 
able  to  talk  to  me." 

"Well,"  said  Joe,  "  that's  a  fact.  A  good  many  of 
'em  don't  like  to  talk  English,  and  I'll  tell  you  why ; 
because  they're  afraid  that  they'll  make  mistakes,  and 
then  maybe  you'd  laugh  at  'em." 


156  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  Great  Scott !  "  said  Jack,  "  there  wouldn't  be  any 
sense  in  that.  I  might  just  as  well  never  try  to  learn 
anything  about  living  here  in  the  camp  for  fear  that 
somebody  would  laugh  at  me.  But  say,  ain't  it  great 
that  you  can  talk  English.     Do  you  live  here?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  I  live  right  here.  The  man  that 
raised  me  died  last  year,  and  his  wife  went  off  to  the 
States.  She  told  me  she'd  take  me  along  if  I  wanted 
to  go,  but  I  told  her  I'd  rather  stay  in  this  country. 
So  I  came  back  to  the  camp,  and  now  I  live  here  with 
my  uncle.  He's  Fox  Eye,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
Fat  Roaster  band.  Say,"  he  added,  ''  where  did  you 
come  from  ?  " 

Jack  told  him,  and  how  he  had  come  up  from  the 
south  with  Hugh,  at  John  Monroe's  invitation,  and 
that  he  expected  to  spend  a  couple  of  months  with 
the  tribe. 

"  Ah,"  said  Joe,  *'  that's  good.  Pretty  soon  after 
we've  had  the  Medicine  Lodge  the  people  will  move 
out  onto  the  prairie  to  kill  buffalo.  The  women  want 
new  lodge  skins,  and  food  will  soon  be  needed.  Do 
you  think  you'll  like  it  here  ?  " 

''  Yes,  you  bet !  "  said  Jack  ;  ''  it's  the  bulliest  place 
I've  ever  been  in.  I  never  get  tired  of  wondering  what 
the  people  are  doing ;  and  why  they're  doing  it.     Say, 

you  could  tell  me  a  lot  about  all  these  things,  couldn't 

•J  >> 
you  r 

''  Maybe  so,"  said  Joe  ;  "  I  know  some  of  the  things, 
but  I've  been  away  from  the  tribe  a  whole  lot,  and 
then  I'm  only  a  boy,  so  I  don't  know  much.  The  old 
men  are  the  ones  who  know  things  ;  they  could  tell 
you.     Get  White  Bull  to  ask  them  about  all  the  differ- 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  157 

ent  ceremonies  and  the  customs.  Maybe  they'd  tell 
him  when  they  wouldn't  tell  you  and  me.  Do  you 
like  to  hunt  ?  "  and  Jack  answered  :  "  You  bet  I  do  ! 
I've  never  done  much  hunting,  but  I've  killed  some  deer 
and  antelope  and  elk,  and  down  south  of  here,  as  we 
were  coming  along,  I  killed  a  buffalo." 

"  You've  got  a  good  horse,"  said  Joe.  "  I've  seen 
him.  He'll  catch  the  fastest  cows.  Your  lodge  will 
always  have  plenty  of  meat." 

"Yes,"  said  Jack,  *' he's  a  good  horse;  fast,  and 
good  to  hunt  with." 

After  a  little,   Joe  asked  him  :  "  Ever  hunt  sheep  ?  " 

**  No,  I  never  exactly  hunted  'em.  Just  after  we 
crossed  the  Yellowstone,  coming  north,  three  or  four 
sneep  pretty  nearly  came  into  our  camp  one  morning, 
and  I  killed  one  there.  Those  are  the  only  ones  I 
ever  saw." 

**  There  are  sheep  up  there,"  said  Joe,  pointing  to  a 
flat  mountain  not  many  miles  away. 

"Is  that  so?"  said  Jack.  "I  shouldn't  think 
there'd  be  any  as  close  to  this  camp  as  that.  I  should 
think  the  Indians'd  kill  'em  all  off." 

"  Pooh  !"  said  Joe  ;"  these  Indians  don't  hunt  in 
the  mountains,  they  hunt  on  the  prairie,  they  kill 
buffalo,  but  they  don't  go  much  into  the  mountains, 
nor  into  the  timber;  they're  afraid  of  bears.  Lots  of 
bears  here.  S'pose  you  feel  like  it,  some  day  you 
and    me  go  up  on  the  mountain,  maybe  kill  a  sheep." 

"Oh,  wouldn't  I  like  it,"  said  Jack;  "those  moun- 
tains look  so  big  and  gray  and  rough.  I'd  just  love  to 
get  up  on  'em  and  climb  round  there." 

"Well,"  said  Joe,  "s'pose  to-morrow's  a  good  day, 
maybe  we  go  up  there." 


158  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"All  right/'  said  Jack,  "  I'd  like  nothing  better,  and 
I'll  speak  to  Hugh  about  it  as  soon  as  he  comes  back. 
He's  gone  off  to  the  head  chief's  lodge  now." 

"Yes,"  said  Joe,  ''I  know;  they're  having  a  big 
talk  over  there.  I  don't  know  what  it's  about.  I  ex- 
pect maybe  it's  something  about  the  Medicine  Lodge. 
That  comes  pretty  soon  now." 

"Yes,"  said  Jack,  "  I  heard  Hugh  say  that  he 
thought  it  would  come  before  long.  I  want  to  see 
that  too." 

"  Well,"  said  Joe,  "  that'll  last  four  days,  and  then 
pretty  soon  after  that  I  guess  the  camp'Il  move  out 
onto  the  prairie." 

The  boys  were  still  talking  there  when  Hugh  re- 
turned to  the  lodge,  and  Jack  at  once  spoke  to  him 
about  what  Joe  had  proposed. 

"  Why  yes,"  said  Hugh,  "that's  a  good  thing  to  do. 
Likely  as  not  you  might  kill  a  sheep  up  there,  and 
anyhow,  it's  a  good  climb,  and  it'll  do  you  good  to 
get  up  onto  the  high  hills  and  look  out  over  the 
prairie.  I  can't  go  with  you,  myself,  because  the  old 
man  over  there  wants  me  to  spend  the  day  with  him 
to-morrow,  but  you  and  Joe  can  go,  and  I  guess  you 
won't  get  into  no  mischief.  Ever  been  up  there, 
Joe?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Joe,  "I've  been  up  there  a  good 
many  times." 

"All  right,"  said  Hugh;  "go  along  then;  but  see 
that  you  don't  get  into  no  trouble.  If  you  see  any 
bears,  don't  bother  with  'em  ;  just  let  'em  go  off.  Go 
up  there  and  kill  a  sheep,  if  you  can,  and  spend  the 
day,  but  try  and  get  in  before  dark." 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  159 

The  next  morning  the  two  boys  started.  Joe 
rode  a  little  fat,  wiry  pony,  without  either  saddle  or 
bridle,  and  Jack,  as  usual,  rode  Pawnee.  The  trail  up 
the  mountain  was  narrow,  overgrown  and  winding,  so 
that  in  many  places  it  was  hard  to  see  where  it  went, 
but  Jack  noticed  that  all  along  it,  the  twigs  of  the 
aspens  had  been  bent  and  broken  by  persons  riding 
along  it,  so  that  it  was  not  difficulty  to  follow.  Every 
now  and  then,  however,  it  left  the  aspens  and  passed  out 
through  a  little  park  where  the  grass  was  long  and 
bent  in  all  directions  by  the  passage  of  animals. 
Some  of  these  were  elk,  and  Jack  saw  a  bear  track  or 
two.  In  such  open  parks  the  trail  was  quite  lost,  for 
in  passing  across  such  open  places  the  Indians  no 
longer  follow  one  behind  another  in  single  file,  but 
spread  out,  each  horse  taking  his  own  way.  The 
mountain  side  was  absolutely  wild,  and  looked  as  if  it 
might  shelter  any  number  of  wild  animals,  but  noth- 
ing larger  than  a  squirrel  was  seen,  and  at  last  they 
reached  the  steep,  grassy  slopes  which  lay  just  below 
the  rocks.  Here  Joe  said  they  must  leave  the  horses, 
and  they  picketed  them  there. 

Not  many  yards  above  where  they  stood,  the  stones, 
fallen  from  the  mountain  side,  lay  piled  up  steep,  and 
above  them  rose  sharply  the  vertical  cliffs  which 
formed  the  summits  of  the  mountain.  Jack  looked 
up  at  the  rocks  and  said  to  Joe  :  "  Do  we  have  to 
get  up  on  the  top  there  ?  " 

*' Yes,"  said  Joe,  ''that's  the  place  to  look  for  sheep. 
Pretty  good  climb  up  there,  ain't  it?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Jack,  "  it  looks  a  long  way,  but  we've 
got  plenty  of  time  to  do  it  in." 


i6o  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

''That's  so,"  said  Joe,  and  they  started,  Joe  leading 
and  Jack  following  close  behind,  carrying  his  rifle  in  his 
hand.  It  was  hard  work  climbing  up  over  these  steep 
rocks,  some  of  which  were  just  balanced  so  that  if  one 
stepped  on  them  near  the  edge  they  tipped,  making  the 
footing  uncertain,  and  to  the  white  boy,  accustomed 
only  to  the  exercise  of  riding,  the  work  was  hard. 
Before  long  he  was  quite  out  of  breath,  and  the  exer- 
tion made  the  perspiration  stream  down  his  face, 
though  the  day  was  not  a  warm  one  and  a  cool  breeze 
blew  along  the  mountain  side. 

Presently  Joe  stopped  and  sat  down  in  the  lee  of 
the  great  mass  of  rock,  saying,  as  he  did  so  :  "  Pretty 
hard  work ;  makes  me  puff  and  blow  plenty,  and  you 
too." 

"Yes,"  said  Jack,  as  he  threw  himself  on  the 
ground,  "  I  haven't  much  wind.  I'm  not  used  to 
being  as  high  up  in  the  air  as  this,  and  then  I'm  not 
used  to  going  much  on  foot.  Say,  Joe,"  he  added, 
after  a  pause,  "  why  do  you  carry  a  bow  and  arrows  ?  " 
for  the  only  arms  Joe  carried  except  a  knife  in  his 
belt  were  a  bow  and  arrows,  in  a  case  attached  to  a 
strap  which  passed  over  his  shoulder. 

"  Pretty  good  reason,  "  said  Joe  ;  "  I  ain't  got  no 
gun,  and  this  is  all  I've  got  to  hunt  with." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "you  must  have  to  get  up 
pretty  close  to  your  game  to  kill  *em  with  bow  and  ar- 
row, don't  you  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Joe,  "pretty  close.  Of  course  buffalo 
hunting  you  ride  up  right  close  to  the  cow.  Sheep 
and  deer  and  antelope  you  have  to  crawl  up  as  near  as 
you  can,  and  then  maybe  you  have  to  wait,  sometimes 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  i6i 

a  long  time,  perhaps  half  a  day.  Then  maybe  the 
animals  come  near  you,  or  go  to  some  place  where 
you  can  get  near  them,  so  you  kill  'em.  This 
bow  shoots  pretty  strong.  I've  sent  an  arrow  so  deep 
into  a  cow  that  the  feathers  were  wet  with  the  blood, 
but  then  I  never  used  a  bow  much.  Some  boys  in 
the  tribe  can  send  an  arrow  pretty  nearly  through  a 
buffalo.  Some  of  the  .  men,  the  best  hunters,  can 
shoot  clear  through  a  buffalo,  so  that  the  arrow  falls 
out  on  the  other  side.  One  man  in  the  camp  one  time 
killed  two  buffalo  with  one  shot;  the  arrow  went  clear 
through  the  first  one,  and  stuck  in  the  second  so  deep 
that  it  killed  it.     Queer,  wasn't  it  ?  " 

*'  Well,  I  should  say  it  was,"  said  Jack.  "  I'd  hate 
to'have  anybody  shoot  at  me  with  one  of  those  things." 

**  Yes,"  said  Joe,  ''a  bow  shoots  pretty  strong,  and 
then  it  don't  make  any  noise ;  sometimes  you  miss  a 
shot  with  the  first  arrow,  you  get  a  chance  to  shoot 
once  or  twice  or  three  times  more.  The  animal  don't 
see  you  or  hear  you,  just  "keeps  on  feeding." 

After  two  or  three  more  rests  they  found  themselves 
on  a  stone  platform,  just  below  the  foot  of  what  Joe 
called  the  reef,  meaning  the  great  wall  of  rock  which 
rose  sheer  to  the  top  of  the  mountain.  Here  Joe 
pointed  out  several  trails,  winding  about  among  the 
stones  and  sometimes  passing  over  them,  which  he 
said  were  sheep  trails,  and  now  he  warned  Jack  that 
they  must  look  out  carefully,  for  they  might  see  sheep 
at  almost  any  time.  They  went  forward  along  one  of 
these  trails,  climbing  up  pretty  well  toward  the  foot 
of  the  reef,  and  keeping  a  good  lookout  ahead  and  be- 
low them.     As  they  went  on,  the  reef  broke  away  to 


i62  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

their  left,  and  Jack  could  see  that  a  narrow  and  deep 
valley  ran  out  from  the  mountain  side,  with  grass  and 
willows  along  the  course  of  the  stream  which  flowed 
through  it.  Very  slowly  and  cautiously  they  pro- 
ceeded, seeing  nothing  and  hearing  no  sounds.  They 
had  gone  perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  and  had 
followed  the  sheep  trail  up  to  the  crest  of  a  little 
ridge,  beyond  which  there  seemed  to  be  a  sag  which 
ran  down  into  the  narrow,  rock-strewn  valley.  Joe 
had  his  bow  in  his  hand,  an  arrow  on  the  string,  and 
Jack  followed  him,  ready  to  shoot  at  an  instant's 
warning.  As  they  topped  the  ridge  there  was  a  clat- 
ter below  them,  and  Joe,  suddenly  drawing  back  his 
right  arm,  let  fly  an  arrow  at  something  that  Jack  could 
not  see.  In  a  moment  Jack  stood  beside  him,  and  saw 
not  more  than  fifty  yards  away,  a  sheep  running  hard, 
and  with  a  dark  smear  on  its  side,  just  behind  the 
fore-leg,  which  showed  that  it  was  wounded. 

"  Shoot  him  !  "  said  Joe.  "  Shoot  him,  quick  !  "  and 
Jack  threw  his  gun  to  his  shoulder,  but  just  as  his  eye 
settled  into  the  sights,  the  sheep  staggered,  came  to 
its  knees,  rose  and  staggered  on  a  few  steps,  and  then 
fell  on  its  side.     Jack's  shot  was  not  needed. 

"  Hurrah  !  "  he  said  to  Joe,  as  he  slapped  him  on 
the  shoulder  ;  "that  was  a  good  shot  and  a  quick  shot, 
too.  I  did  not  suppose  anybody  could  shoot  like  that 
with  a  bow  and  arrow.  I'll  have  to  get  you  to  teach 
me  how  to  shoot,  Joe.  I'd  a  heap  rather  kill  anything 
with  a  bow  while  I'm  out  here  than  use  my  gun. 
Wouldn't  it  be  great  to  go  out  with  the  Indians  and 
hunt  buffalo  with  nothing  but  a  bow  and  arrow?  ** 

Joe   smiled   and   seemed  pleased,  partly,   perhaps, 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  163 

with  his  shot,  and  partly  because  Jack  was  so  glad  that 
he  had  made  a  good  one.  They  went  down  over  the 
steep,  slipping  stone  slide  to  where  the  sheep  had 
fallen,  but  it  did  not  lie  there,  for  in  its  dying  strug- 
gles it  had  rolled  over  and  over  down  the  steep  slope, 
until  now  it  lay  on  its  side  on  a  little  grassy  bank  close 
to  the  trickle  of  water  that  flowed  through  the  ravine. 
The  arrow  which  still  remained  in  its  side  was  broken. 

"Well,"  said  Joe,  "we've  got  some  meat,  anyhow. 
Now  we've  got  to  butcher  and  carry  it  back  to  the 
horses.  Are  you  pretty  strong?  Can  you  carry  a 
pretty  good  load  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Jack.  "  I  guess  if  we're  going 
to  take  in  the  whole  sheep  we've  got  to  make  two 
tr^s  of  it." 

"Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  I  guess  that's  so." 

They  butchered  and  skinned  the  sheep,  a  yearling 
ram,  but  when  they  divided  it  into  two  parts  and  each 
tried  to  shoulder  one  they  found  that  the  load  was  too 
heavy  to  be  carried  ;  so  Joe  took  a  hind  quarter  and 
Jack  a  fore  quarter  and  the  skin,  and  carried  it  back 
to  a  point  on  the  mountain  nearly  above  the  horses. 
Then  they  returned  and  brought  the  second  load. 

While  they  were  resting,  Jack  said  to  Joe  :  "  What  is 
there  up  on  top,  Joe?  I'd  like  to  get  up  there,  and 
take  a  look  over  at  the  country.  It's  only  about  the 
middle  of  the  day,  is  it  ?  " 

Joe  looked  at  the  sun,  knowingly,  and  said  :  "That's 
It.     Noon." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "we've  got  three  or  four  hours 
before  we'll  have  to  start  home.  Let's  climb  up 
on  top." 


i64  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  All  right/'  said  Joe  ;  ''  let's  do  it." 

Before  long  they  started  upward  toward  the  foot  of 
the  reef,  aiming  for  a  place  where  the  rocks  seemed 
broken  away  and  discoloured,  as  if  water  flowed  down 
there  at  some  time  of  the  year.  At  Joe's  suggestion, 
Jack  left  his  coat  and  the  handkerchief  he  wore  about 
his  neck  spread  out  over  the  meat,  for  this,  Joe  told 
him,  would  keep  the  birds  and  animals  from  feeding 
on  it.  The  climb  up  to  the  top  of  the  reef  was  not 
nearly  so  hard  as  Jack  had  supposed  it  would  be,  and 
it  seemed  that  it  did  not  take  them  more  than  half  an 
hour  to  gain  the  high  table-land  that  formed  the 
mountain's  summit.  Here  they  could  see  a  long  way 
in  every  direction.  The  mountain  was  a  great  shoulder 
thrust  out  toward  the  prairie  from  other  higher  moun- 
tains behind  it.  Its  top  was  almost  flat,  and  was  cov- 
ered with  fine  broken  stones.  One  might  ride  a  horse 
over  it  in  almost  any  direction.  No  trees  grew  there 
and  no  grass.  It  was  all  gray  rock.  A  few  patches 
of  snow  still  lay  on  it,  although  it  was  now  almost 
midsummer,  and  in  several  deep  valleys  that  pierced 
the  great  shoulder,  deep  snow  banks  were  still  white 
among  the  scattering  pines.  On  either  side  of  this 
shoulder  was  a  deep,  wide  valley.  In  one,  lay  the 
great  lake  from  which  flowed  the  river  that  Hugh  and 
Jack  had  crossed  on  their  way  to  the  camp,  in  the 
other  was  a  considerable  stream,  with  a  few  small 
lakes  along  its  course,  the  valley  itself  being  overgrown 
with  timber,  except  for  an  occasional  little  open,  grassy 
park.  Stretching  away  far  to  the  east  lay  the  prairie, 
green  for  the  most  part,  but  with  the  ridges  brown, 
and    out    of   it,   a   little   to   the    north    of  east,    rose 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  165 

three  shadowy  masses,  which  Jack  felt  sure  must  be 
mountains. 

"  What  are  those,  Joe  ?  "  he  said,  pointing  to  them. 

''  Oh,"  said  Joe,  "  those  are  the  Three  Buttes — 
Sweet-grass  Hills,  you  know.  That's  where  the  camp 
will  go  when  they  go  to  hunt  buffalo." 

"  My  !  "  said  Jack,  "you  can  see  a  long  way,  can't 
you  r 

"Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  plenty  prairie,  ain't  there  ?  " 

"You  bet  !  But  it's  cold  up  here,  Joe,"  said  Jack; 
"  let's  walk  around  a  little.  I'd  like  to  walk  over  to 
the  other  side  and  look  down  into  that  other  valley. 
It  don't  look  as  if  anybody  had  ever  been  up  there. 
It's  just  as  wild  as  wild  can  be." 

/*  No,"  said  Joe,  "  not  many  people  go  up  there. 
Sometimes  Kutenais  or  Stories  come  down  from  the 
north  and  go  up  there  to  hunt.     Not  often  though." 

"  Is  there  much  game  there,  Joe?  " 

"I  don't  know,"  was  the  answer,  "but  last  year 
when  I  was  camped  here  with  my  uncle,  a  little  camp 
of  Stonies  came  down,  and  went  up  there  and  stayed 
four  days,  and  when  they  came  back  they  had  two 
moose,  an  elk,  and  lots  of  sheep  and  goats." 

"Jerusalem!"  said  Jack;  "there  must  be  lots  of 
game." 

"Yes,  I  suppose  there  is;  plenty  for  everybody  to 
eat." 

They  walked  over  toward  the  other  side  of  the 
shoulder,  talking  as  they  went,  and  as  they  passed 
down  through  a  little  hollow,  suddenly  a  bird,  about 
as  big  as  a  banty  hen,  brown  and  black,  with  some 
white   on    it,  flew    up    from    the    ground    and    struck 


i66  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

against  Jack's  knees,  and  then  dropped  down  and  be- 
gan to  flutter  about  at  his  feet.  Joe  sprang  forward 
and  struck  at  it  with  his  bow,  but  Jack  caught  his 
hand  and  said  :  '*  Hold  on,  hold  on  ;  don't  kill  it ;  let's 
see  what  it  means."  They  stood  there  for  a  moment 
or  two  and  watched  the  little  bird,  and  suddenly  Jack 
said  :  "  I  believe  that's  a  white-tailed  ptarmigan,  and 
it's  got  a  nest,  or  young  ones  right  here  somewhere. 
Do  you  know  what  it  is,  Joe?" 

*'  No,"  said  Joe,  ''  I  don't  know  what  you  call  it ; 
I've  seen  plenty  of  them  before ;  they  live  up  here  in 
the  snow,  and  in  winter  they're  all  white  ;  it's  some 
kind  of  a  chicken,  I  guess." 

''  Yes,"  said  Jack,  ''  that  must  be  what  it  is.  Ain't 
I  glad  I've  seen  one.  I  wish  though  we  could  find 
the  nest,  or  see  the  little  ones." 

As  he  said  this,  Joe  very  slowly  and  carefully 
stooped  down,  and  reaching  out  his  hand  grasped 
something  between  two  of  the  stones,  and  then  stand- 
ing up  again  said,  "  Here's  one." 

It  was  the  tiniest  little  chicken  that  Jack  had  ever 
seen,  hardly  bigger  than  his  thumb,  covered  with 
fluffy  yellow  and  brown  down,  and  looking  fearlessly 
at  its  captors  with  its  bright  brown  eyes.  The  mother 
bird  had  drawn  off  a  little  bit  while  they  were  talking, 
but  now  seeing  that  one  of  her  young  was  in  danger, 
she  rushed  at  Jack  again,  pecking  furiously  at  his 
trousers,  and  sometimes  holding  them  and  flapping 
against  his  legs  with  her  wing. 

*'  Oh,"  said  Jack,  "  isn't  he  a  beauty  ;  isn't  he  a 
perfect  beauty.  Wouldn't  I  give  anything  to  carry 
half  a  dozen  of  those  back  to  the  States,  and  try  to 


AN  INDIAN  FRIEND.  167 

raise  them  ;  but  it  would  be  no  good  I  suppose  to 
take  this  one  down ;  it  never  would  live  down  on  the 
prairie,  and  we  couldn't  get  anything  to  feed  it,  any- 
how." 

"  No,"  said  Joe,  "  no  good  to  try  to  raise  it,  and  it's 
too  small  to  eat." 

"That's  so,"  said  Jack,  and  stooping  down  he 
opened  his  hand,  when  the  little  one  ran  nimbly  over 
the  rocks,  followed  much  more  slowly  by  its  mother. 

The  boys  went  on  over  to  the  edge  of  the  rocks 
and  looked  down  into  the  wide  valley  below  them  ; 
then  they  turned  and  walked  a  mile  or  two  up  toward 
the  main  range.  Joe  pointed  out  to  Jack  some  places 
where  sheep  had  recently  stamped  out  beds  and  lain 
in  chem,  but  nothing  living  was  seen.  At  length,  as 
the  sun  began  to  sink  toward  the  west,  they  went 
back  to  the  point  where  they  had  ascended  to  the 
table-land,  and  going  down  to  the  meat,  carried  it 
down  to  their  horses,  packed  it  on  them  and  returned 
to  camp. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

AN   ENEMY   IN   CAMP. 

One  morning,  a  few  days  after  Jack's  sheep  hunt, 
Joe  made  his  appearance  at  John  Monroe's  lodge, 
carrying  a  bundle  under  his  arm,  and  finding  Jack 
eating  his  breakfast  within,  sat  down  beside  him. 
When  Jack  had  finished,  Joe  removed  the  piece  of 
calico  which  covered  the  bundle,  and  held  out  to  Jack 
a  buckskin  shirt,  heavily  fringed  along  the  arms  and 
on  the  sides,  and  beautifully  ornamented  on  back  and 
front  with  stained  porcupine  quills. 

''  My  aunt,  Fox  Eye's  woman,  sent  you  this  "  said 
Joe. 

"  Sent  it  to  me?  " 

"Yes,  she  made  it.  Part  of  it  is  the  skin  of  the 
sheep  we  killed.     She  thought  maybe  you'd  like  it." 

"  Like  it,  well  I  should  say  I  do.  It's  the  hand- 
somest thing  I  ever  saw.  I've  seen  some  of  the  men 
wearing  coats  and  shirts  fixed  up  like  this,  and  I've 
wished  I  had  one,  too.  Tell  her  I'm  awfully  obliged 
to  her,  won't  you?" 

"  Well,"  said  Joe,  "you  can't  say  that  in  Indian. 
I'll  tell  her  it  made  you  laugh  when  you  got  the  shirt ; 
then  she'll  be  glad,  too.  Fox  Eye  and  six  lodges  are 
going  over  to  Grassy  Lakes  to  kill  antelope,  for  cloth- 
ing ;  do  you  want  to  come  ?  " 


AN  ENEMY  IN  CAMP.  169 

"  Why  yes,  of  course  I  want  to  come.  I  wonder  if 
I  could.  You  see,  I've  got  to  talk  to  Hugh  before  I 
go  off  anywhere,  for  before  I  left  the  ranch  I  told  my 
uncle  I'd  try  to  do  what  Hugh  said,  always." 

*'  That's  good,  White  Bull  is  a  wise  man  ;  it's  good 
to  listen  to  him.  Everybody  in  the  camp  respects 
him." 

"  When's  Fox  Eye  going  to  start?" 

"  Goin'  to  start  to-day,  maybe  go  along  the  moun- 
tains to  Little  Lake,  under  Chief  mountain  ;  camp 
there  to-night.     It's  not  far.     Then  go  on  east." 

"  Let's  go  out  and  see  if  we  can  find  Hugh  now,  but 
first,  I  want  to  put  on  my  shirt." 

Just  as  the  boys  were  about  to  get  up  and 
leave  the  lodge,  John  Monroe's  wife  called  to  Jack, 
"  Here,  you  goin'  to  be  Injin,  got  to  wear  moccasins," 
and  she  threw  across  the  lodge  to  him  a  pair  of  prettily 
beaded  moccasins  with  parfleche  soles. 

''All  right,  "  said  Jack,  '' I'll  put  on  moccasins  and 
leggings  too,  if  you'll  give  them  to  me,"  and  sitting 
down  he  removed  his  shoes  and  replaced  them  by  the 
moccasins,  which  exactly  fitted  him.  He  did  not 
know  that  the  kind-hearted  woman  had  taken  one  of 
his  socks  while  he  slept,  and  got  the  size  of  his  foot 
from  that. 

The  boys  started  out  from  the  lodge  to  look  for 
Hugh,  Jack  feeling  a  little  shy  in  his  new  finery,  and 
a  little  bit  afraid  that  people  who  saw  him  might 
laugh  at  him.  Nobody  seemed  to  do  so,  and  he  saw 
only  the  pleasant  smiles  that  had  greeted  him  ever 
since  he  had  first  come  into  the  camp. 

After    a  little  search  they  found  Hugh  sitting  on 


170  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

the  ground  near  one  of  the  lodges,  talking  with  two 
other  old  men,  and  stopped  by  them,  waiting  until  they 
should  have  ceased  talking.  Then  Hugh  looked  up 
at  Jack  and  said,  "  Well,  son,  what  is  it  ?  I  can  always 
tell  when  you  want  to  ask  me  something,  as  far  as  I 
can  see  you.     What  are  you  proposing  to  do  now?" 

"Well,  Hugii,"  said  Jack,  *'it's  this  way;  Joe  says 
that  his  uncle  and  a  few  lodges  are  going  off  to  Grassy 
Lakes  after  antelope  skins,  and  he  asked  me  if  Td  like 
to  go  along.  Of  course  I'd  like  to  go,  but  I  don't 
want  to  unless  you  think  I'd  better." 

"  Hum,"  said  Hugh;  "Grassy  Lakes;  that's  about 
three  or  four  days,  isn't  it,  Joe?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Joe,  "about  that.  They  thought 
they'd  go  over  and  camp  there  three  or  four  days,  and 
then  come  back.  They  say  there's  lots  of  antelope  on 
the  prairie,  and  they  thought  they  could  get  what 
skins  they  wanted  and  get  back  in  that  time." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  don't  know  ;  I  don't  like  to 
have  you  going  so  far  off  with  such  a  little  party,  and 
then  of  course  there's  always  a  chance  of  your  run- 
ning onto  a  war  party ;  like  as  not,  Crows  or  Assina- 
boines  or  Gros  Ventres  may  be  wandering  around 
there,  killing  buffalo,  or  going  up  to  the  Blood  camp, 
and  you  might  get  into  some  trouble." 

"  Oh,"  said  Jack,  "  I  don't  believe  there's  any  dan- 
ger of  that  kind.  It'll  be  just  a  little  hunting  trip, 
and  I'd  like  the  ride  ;  and  I'll  try  to  take  good  care  of 
myself  and  not  do  any  foolish  things." 

"  Well,  you've  got  pretty  good  sense,  and  I've  al- 
ways found  I  could  depend  on  you  pretty  well.  I 
guess  If  you  like  you  can  go,  but  I  think  I'll  go  too." 


AN  ENEMY  IN  CAMP.  171 

"  Why  that's  better  yet.       I  guess  you'd  like  the 
ride    too  ;    you've  been  sitting  round  camp  now   for 
quite    a  while,  and  I  haven't  done  anything   except 
when  I  climbed  the  mountain    the   other  day    with  ^ 
Joe." 

Hugh  turned  to  Joe  and  said,  ''How  is  it,  boy;  is 
there  plenty  of  room  in  Fox  Eye's  lodge?" 

''  I  guess  so,  "  said  Joe  ;  "  nobody  lives  there  but  him 
and  my  aunt  and  me.  The  lodge  is  big ;  there  ought 
to  be  room  for  two  more  people." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  you  go  over  and  ask  your 
uncle  if  Jack  and  me  can  come  along  and  stop  in  his 
lodge,  and  let  me  know." 

The  boys  walked  quickly  across  the  circle  of  the 
camp,  and  presently  found  themselves  at  Fox  Eye's 
lodge.  When  they  entered  they  found  Joe's  aunt  busily 
engaged  in  packing  things  up,  and  the  interior  of  the 
lodge  almost  dismantled.  Fox  Eye,  himself,  had  gone 
out  to  bring  in  the  horses,  and  when  Joe  gave  Hugh's 
message,  the  woman  replied  in  a  high-pitched,  scold- 
ing voice  that  almost  alarmed  Jack,  for  he  could  not 
think  what  she  was  finding  fault  with,  unless  it  was 
the  proposition  that  they  should  quarter  themselves 
on  her. 

After  she  had  finished  speaking,  Joe  said  to  Jack  : 

''Well,  let's  go  over  and  tell  him." 

"Well,  but  Joe,"  said  Jack,  "what  did  she  say?  I 
thought  she  was  mad  because  we  wanted  to  go  with 
you." 

"  Ho,"  said  Joe,  "  she  was  mad  ;  that  is,  she  was  a 
little  mad,  but  that  isn't  the  reason  why  ;  she  said, 
'  Why    does  White  Bull  talk   like  that  ?     Doesn't  he 


172  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

know  that  if  he  wants  to  stop  in  our  lodge  he  shall 
come  into  it  and  sit  down  and  stay  as  long  as  he  wants  ? 
Tell  him  he  talks  like  a  foolish  person,  and  that  Fox 
Eye  will  be  glad  to  see  him  whenever  he  comes,  and 
glad  to  have  him  stop  as  long  as  he  feels  Hke  stop- 
pmg. 

The  boys  went  back  to  Hugh  and  gave  the  message 
that  Joe's  aunt  had  sent,  and  Jack  and  Hugh  went  to 
the  lodge,  packed  up  the  two  beds,  and  got  out  some 
sugar  and  coffee  and  flour,  luxuries  w^hich  were  to  be 
their  contribution  to  the  supplies  of  Fox  Eye's  lodge. 
It  occurred  to  Jack,  also,  that  it  would  be  a  nice  thing 
to  give  Fox  Eye,  himself,  a  present  of  tobacco,  and  to 
his  wife  some  beads  and  red  cloth,  as  some  acknowl- 
edeement  of  her  kindness  to  him.  When  the  bundles 
were  ready  Jack  went  out  and  brought  hi  Pawnee, 
saddled  him,  and  riding  out  to  the  horse  herd  on  the 
hills,  selected  one  of  their  own  pack  animals,  brought 
it  in  and  tied  it  up  ready  for  packing  when  the  time 
should  come  for  starting. 

About  mid-day  the  little  train  started  northeast, 
and  camped  that  night  at  a  small  lake  not  far  from 
the  base  of  the  Chief  Mountain,  which  rose  like  a  great 
wall  to  the  west  of  them.  Two  days  more  brought 
them  to  the  Grassy  Lakes,  and  there  they  camped,  to 
stop  for  four  or  five  days.  While  they  were  marching, 
Hugh  usually  rode  with  the  two  boys,  off  to  one  side, 
an-d  they  hunted  antelope  with  some  success.  Jack 
killed  two  and  Hugh  three,  and  then  Jack  loaned  his 
rifle  to  Joe,  who  proved  himself  a  good  hunter  and  a 
good  shot,  and  killed  four  antelope.  The  hunters 
amone  the  Indians  had  also  killed  a  number,  and  before 


AN  ENEMY  IN  CAMP.  173 

long  much  meat  and  many  hides  were  put  out  to  dry  at 
each  camp.  Buffalo  were  in  sight  all  the  time,  but  the 
Indians  did  not  disturb  them,  for  it  had  been  under- 
stood before  they  left  the  camp  that  no  buffalo  should 
be  killed.  A  sharp  lookout  was  kept  all  the  time  for 
enemies,  but  no  signs  were  seen  that  any  one  was  in 
the  country. 

The  second  day  of  their  stay  at  Grassy  Lakes  was 
dull  and  overcast,  and  the  wind  which  had  been  always 
from  the  west,  now  worked  around  to  the  north  and 
northeast.  Hugh  and  the  Indians  said  that  they  were 
going  to  have  a  rain  storm,  and  that  it  might  be  a 
long  one.  Jack  and  Joe  hunted  during  the  day  not 
far  from  camp,  and  each  killed  an  antelope.  They 
reached  camp  with  their  game  in  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,  and  after  eating,  Jack  lay  down  in  the 
lodge  on  the  bed  and  went  to  sleep  and  did  not  wake 
up  until  after  dark.  When  he  sat  up  to  look  about 
him  he  saw  that  it  was  night,  and  almost  every  one  in 
the  lodge  was  in  bed,  and  the  fire  was  beginning  to 
burn  low.  He  tried  to  talk  a  little  with  Joe  and  Hugh, 
but  both  were  sleepy,  and  presently  he  lay  down  again 
to  sleep  through  the  night.  The  fire  died  down,  so 
that  now  it  gave  no  light,  and  the  heavy,  regular  breath- 
ing of  the  people  in  the  lodge  showed  that  all  were 
sleeping,  but  Jack  could  not  go  to  sleep.  His  long  rest 
in  the  afternoon  had  made  him  wakeful,  and  though 
he  turned  from  side  to  side  on  his  soft  bed  of  robes, 
sleep  would  not  come  to  him.  At  length,  after  what 
seemed  to  him  three  or  four  hours,  he  thought  he 
would  get  up  and  go  outside  of  the  lodge,  stretch  his 
legs,  and  perhaps  this  would  make  him  sleep.     He  rose 


174  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

very  softly,  for  fear  of  disturbing  any  one,  took  his 
gun  in  his  hand,  and  stepping  over  to  the  door,  stood 
outside.  For  an  instant  he  could  hardly  believe  his 
eyes,  for  there,  close  in  front  of  the  lodge,  was  the 
dark  form  of  some  one  stooping  down  and  holding  the 
rope  by  which  one  of  the  horses  was  tied  in  front  of 
the  lodge.  Although  the  night  was  cloudy  there  was 
a  moon,  which  enabled  him  to  see  very  plainly  that  this 
was  a  man  who  was  doing  something  with  one  of  the 
ropes.  In  an  instant  it  flashed  through  his  mind  that 
this  must  be  an  enemy  stealing  horses,  and  as  he 
thought  this,  the  man  stood  erect  and  then  sprang  on  the 
back  of  the  horse  which  started  to  walk  away.  Jack  did 
not  know  what  to  do.  A  few  jumps  of  the  horse  would 
take  it  out  of  sight.  There  was  nothing  that  he  could 
do  to  stop  it,  except  to  shoot,  and  possibly  this  might 
be  one  of  the  men  in  the  camp  who  had  a  right  to  the 
horse.  All  these  things  flashed  through  Jack's  mind 
in  a  moment,  but  he  felt  that  he  must  find  out  what 
this  was  that  was  being  done.  He  called  out — not  con- 
sidering that  the  man  could  not  understand  him — 
"  Hold  on,  there  !  What  are  you  doing  with  that 
horse  ? "  Evidently  the  man  had  not  seen  him,  for 
as  the  call  reached  him  he  thrust  his  heels  into  the 
horse's  side  and  brought  down  the  rope  on  its  back 
and  it  began  to  gallop. 

"  Hold  on  !  "  Jack  called  again,  '*  or  Til  shoot. 

By  this  time  there  was  stirring  in  the  lodge,  but 
there  was  no  time  to  wait ;  Jack's  gun  was  at  his 
shoulder,  he  fired,  and  as  the  smoke  cleared  away  he 
saw  the  riderless  horse  galloping  on^  and  then  it  dis- 
appeared.    He  called : 


AN  ENEMY  IN  CAMP.  175 

"  Help  !  Hugh  !  Joe  !  they're  stealing  the  horses  !  " 
And  throwing  another  cartridge  into  his  gun  he  rushed 
forward  to  where  he  had  last  seen  the  horse.  There 
on  the  ground  was  the  man,  trying  to  scramble  to  his 
feet.  Jack  pushed  him  back  with  the  muzzle  of  his 
rifle  and  held  the  gun  to  his  shoulder,  ready  to  fire 
again,  saying,  "  Lie  still  there,  or  I'll  shoot."  The 
man  fell  back  and  lay  upon  the  ground  still.  Almost 
at  the  same  instant,  Hugh  and  Joe,  followed  by  Fox 
Eye,  came  running  up.     Hugh's  first  question  was: 

*'  How  many  of  'em  were  there  ?  " 

"  I  only  saw  this  one,  I  didn't  want  to  shoot  at  him, 
but  he  had  jumped  on  the  horse  and  was  riding  off, 
and  I  didn't  know  what  else  to  do." 

Meantime,  Joe  and  Fox  Eye  each,  as  he  came  up, 
had  struck  the  man  lying  there,  Joe  with  his  bow  and 
Fox  Eye  with  the  muzzle  of  his  gun. 

*'  What  are  they  going  to  do  with  him,  Hugh  ?  "  said 
Jack  ;  **  keep  him  for  a  prisoner?  " 

"  Why  no,"  said  Hugh,  stooping  over  and  putting 
his  hand  on  the  man's  breast  ; ''  I  don't  think  we'll  need 
to  tie  him  up.  You  made  a  pretty  good  shot,  son, 
even  if  it  was  dark." 

"  Did  I  hit  him  ?  "  said  Jack.  "  I  thought  he  fell  off 
the  horse  because  I  shot  at  him  ;  he  was  just  getting 
up  when  I  got  here,  and  I  pushed  him  over  with  the 
muzzle  of  my  gun  and  told  him  to  lie  still  or  I'd  shoot 
again." 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  '*  he'll  lie  still  all  right.  I  guess 
we  can  leave  him  here  till  morning." 

**Why,  how  do  you  mean,  Hugh?"  said  Jack. 

*'  Why  son,  he's  dead." 


176  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  Dead,"    said    Jack  ;  "  do   you    mean  that  I  killed 
him  ?  " 

**  I  expect  so,"  said  Hugh,  "  and  a  good  job,  too." 
He  lit  a  match,  and  stooping  down,  looked  at  the 
man's  face  and  moccasins,  and  then  spoke  to  Fox  Eye 
and  to  the  other  men,  who  by  this  time  had  come  up 
and  were  crowding  about  them,  and  then  turned  to 
Jack  and  said,  "  He's  an  Assinaboine,  and  a  horse 
thief,  and  you  done  mighty  well  to  shoot  just  the  way 
you  did.  If  you  hadn't  done  that  we  might  all  have 
been  left  afoot  before  morning ;  no  reason  why  he 
shouldn't  have  taken  every  hoof  of  stock  there  is  in 
the  camp.  You  done  well,  son,  and  I'm  mighty  glad 
of  it  ;  but  how  did  you  come  to  see  him  ?  " 

Jack  told  how  it  was  that  he  could  not  sleep,  and 
how  he  had  gone  out  of  the  lodge  to  stretch  his  legs, 
in  the  hope  that  this  would  make  sleep  come  ;  and  he 
gave  a  detailed  account  of  all  he  had  seen  and  thought 
and  done.  When  he  had  finished,  Hugh  said  to  him 
again, ''  You  done  well.  No  man  could  have  done 
better,  and  when  you  get  back  to  the  camp  I  expect 
these  Indians'll  think  more  of  you  than  ever.  Are  you 
sure  that  when  the  man  was  trying  to  get  up  you 
touched  him  with  your  gun  ?  " 

"  Why  yes,  of  course  I  am,  Hugh ;  I  gave  him  a 
right  hard  punch  with  it,  and  he  lay  down  right  off." 

*'  Well,  if  that's  so,  you Ve  not  only  killed  an  enemy, 
but  you've  counted  coup  on  him,  and  that  makes  you 
a  warrior  right  off.  All  these  people  here  have  been 
thinking  of  you  as  just  a  boy,  but  from  now  on  they'll 
say  that  you're  a  sure  enough  man,  all  right." 

While   they   were  talking,  Hugh  and  Jack  had  re- 


AN  ENEMY  IN  CAMP.  177 

turned  to  Fox  Eye's  lodge,  in  which  his  wife  had  built 
up  a  brilliant  fire.  They  sat  down  there,  and  while 
Hugh  told  the  woman  what  had  happened,  she  was 
warming  up  a  kettle  of  food,  and  presently  set  some 
of  it  before  the  two.  While  they  were  eating.  Fox 
Eye  came  in,  followed  by  several  men,  one  of  whom 
carried  in  his  hand  the  scalp  of  the  enemy  and  another 
his  bow  case  and  quiver.  The  scalp  was,  of  course,  the 
first  that  Jack  had  ever  seen,  and  he  looked  at  it  with 
some  awe,  nor  could  he  rid  himself  of  a  feeling  of  a 
good  deal  of  solemnity  when  he  thought  that  he  had 
killed  a  man.  Joe,  who  had  come  into  the  lodge  and 
sat  down  near  him,  spoke  to  him  presently,  and  said, 
"  My  friend,  I  am  glad  that  you  have  done  this  great 
thing.  You  have  shown  that  you  are  brave.  I  wish 
that  I  had  had  the  chance." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  wish  you  had  had  it;  you 
could  have  done  as  much  with  your  bow  as  I  did  with 
my  gun." 

''W^eren't  you  afraid,"  said  Joe,  "when  you  ran  up 
to  that  person  lying  on  the  ground  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Jack,  "  I  didn't  think  about  being  afraid. 
I  expect  I  didn't  know  enough  to  be  scared.  The 
only  thing  I  was  afraid  of  was  that  he'd  get  up  and 
run  away." 

Meantime,  Hugh  had  been  talking  to  the  men,  and 
presently,  when  he  stopped,  Fox  Eye  spoke  for  quite 
along  time.  After  he  had  finished,  Joe  whispered  to 
Jack  : 

"  Say,  you  ought  to  have  heard  what  he  said  about 
you.  Wouldn't  I  be  glad  if  anybody  talked  that  way 
about  me." 


i;8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  What  did  he  say  ?  "  said  Jack. 

''  Oh,  he  praised  you,"  said  Joe  ;  *'  he  said  you  were 
brave  ;  didn't  fear  anything  ;  that  you  were  watchful ; 
that  you  had  eyes  like  an  eagle  ;  ears  like  a  prairie  fox  ; 
that  you  could  hear  a  long  ways,  and  see  straight  and 
shoot  good.     Lord,  he  said  nice  things  about  you." 

Hugh  had  been  speaking  again,  and  now  he  turned 
to  the  two  boys  and  said,  ''  Now,  boys,  there  may  be 
more  of  these  fellows  around,  and  we've  got  to  stand 
guard  to-night  and  look  out  for  these  horses.  I  think 
you  boys  and  young  Bull  Calf,  here,  had  better  go  on 
watch  for  three  hours,  and  then  three  of  us  will  relieve 
you.     Have  you  got  your  watch  on,  Jack?  " 

"  Yes,"    said    Jack,    pulling  it   out,   "  it's   half  past 

twelve." 

"  Well,  you  three  boys  go  out  on  three  sides  of  the 
camp,  a  little  way  outside,  and  on  the  hills,  and  watch 
for  three  hours.  Then,  son,  come  in  and  call  me,  and 
three  others  will  go  out  and  relieve  you.  In  the  morn- 
ing, as  soon  as  it  gets  light,  we'll  pack  up  and  strike 
for  the  main  camp.  It's  liable  to  be  dangerous  here 
before  long." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE   COUNTING  OF  A  COUP. 

The  three  young  men,  each  taking  his  robe,  pre- 
pared to  go  out  to  stand  guard.  Hugh  placed  them, 
Joe  to  the  north  of  the  camp  and  Bull  Calf  to  the  south, 
while  Jack  he  took  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  west  of 
camp,  telling  him  that  this  was  the  most  important 
place  of  all.  There  was  no  danger  of  any  approach 
from  the  east,  since  the  lake  would  protect  that  side. 

''Now,"  said  Hugh,  as  he  left  Jack,  ''you  want  to 
lie  here  on  the  ground  just  below  the  crest  of  the  hill 
and  watch  the  sky  line  ;  then  if  anybody  comes  over 
the  hill,  you'll  be  dead  sure  to  see  him.  I  would  not 
stay  always  in  one  place,  but  move  about  a  little,  but 
do  it  as  quietly  as  you  can.  There  isn't  any  danger 
of  attack,  but  it  might  be  such  a  thing  as  a  man  or  two 
would  try  to  slip  into  the  camp  before  morning,  and 
take  some  horses.  If  you  keep  low  down,  you're 
pretty  sure  to  see  anybody  before  he  sees  you,  and 
you  can  let  him  come  up  pretty  close  before  shooting. 
You  don't  want  to  shoot  for  nothing  and  scare  the 
whole  camp,  and  then  find  out  that  you  made  a  fool 
of  yourself.  I  don't  expect  you  will  see  anything,  but 
you  might,  and  you  want  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout. 
Likely,  these  Indian  boys  will  go  to  sleep  before  very 
long,  but  I  depend  on  you  to  keep  awake,  and  that  is 


i8o  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

the  reason  I  put  you  in  the  place  where  you're  most 
likely  to  see  anybody  that  comes  into  the  camp.  Call 
me  in  about  three  hours."  Then  Hugh  went  down  to 
the  camp. 

Jack  spread  his  robe  on  the  ground  and  lay  down 
on  it  and  began  to  watch  the  sky  line.  For  a  little 
while  this  occupied  him.  He  looked  carefully  at  the 
different  stars  that  showed  themselves  just  above  the 
crest  of  the  hill,  and  after  he  had  been  there  a  little 
time,  he  found  that  although  the  night  was  dark — for 
by  this  time  the  moon  had  set  and  the  clouds  had  dis- 
appeared, he  could  see  quite  plainly.  After  he  had 
been  watching  for  a  while,  his  alertness  wore  off  and 
he  began  to  think  about  the  events  of  the  night. 

It  certainly  had  been  exciting  enough.  It  seemed 
very  strange  that  he  should  happen  to  be  the  one  to 
go  out  of  the  lodge  and  detect  the  man  who  was  try- 
ing to  take  a  horse,  and  hardly  less  strange  that  when 
he  shot  at  him,  he  should  happen  to  hit  him.  Of 
course,  shooting  quickly  at  a  galloping  figure  in  the 
dark,  was  a  very  different  thing  from  taking  a  careful 
shot  at  an  object  during  the  day,  and  not  only  w^as  it 
strange  that  he  had  hit  him,  but  that  he  had  hit  him 
so  as  to  kill  him,  for  Jack  now  realised,  that  when  the 
man  was  trying  to  get  on  his  feet,  he  was  only  making 
a  dying  struggle.  Then  he  thought,  suppose  he  had 
only  Avounded  him  and  knocked  him  off  his  horse  and 
that,  then  when  he  ran  up  to  him  the  man  had  shot 
him  with  his  gun  or  with  an  arrow.  It  might  just  as 
well  have  happened  that  way  as  any  other. 

Then  Jack  asked  himself,  ought  he  to  have  shot  at 
him  ?     Certainly  there  was   no  other  way  to  have  re- 


THE  COUNTING  OF  A  COUP.  i8i 

covered  the  horse,  for  if  he  had  shot  and  missed  the 
Indian,  he  would  only  have  ridden  away  the  faster. 
He  might  have  killed  the  horse  to  be  sure,  but  that 
would  have  been  only  to  destroy  his  own  people's 
property  and  would  have  been  no  better  than  to  allow 
the  thief  to  get  away  with  the  animal.  It  made  him 
feel  rather  solemn  to  think  what  he  had  done ;  for  he 
had  never  expected,  that  in  all  his  life  he  would  kill  a 
man.  He  had  often  read  about  wars  and  the  fighting 
of  soldiers  and  about  people  being  killed,  but  soldiers, 
as  he  had  always  heard,  just  shot  at  the  mass  of  the 
enemy  who  were  approaching  and  no  man  knew  just 
what  his  own  bullet  had  done.  No  matter  how  hard 
one  of  the  soldiers  had  tried  to  kill  an  enemy,  he  never 
could  feel  sure  that  it  was  his  bullet  that  had  killed 
the  man  he  shot  at.  It  was  a  very  different  thing 
when  a  man  fired  a  single  shot  at  another  and  killed 
him.  He  wondered  what  the  people  at  home  would 
say,  if  they  were  to  know  what  had  happened,  and  he 
wondered,  too,  whether  it  would  be  best  for  him  to 
tell  them  at  home. 

All  the  time  that  he  was  thinking,  he  was  keeping  a 
sharp  lookout  and  once  or  twice,  as  Hugh  had  sug- 
gested, he  moved  a  short  distance  north  and  then 
again  south,  going  carefully  and  slowly,  crouching  low 
and  keeping  himself  covered  by  his  robe.  Any  one 
who  had  seen  him  at  a  little  distance  would  have  sup- 
posed that  some  large  animal  was  passing  along  the 
hill-side.  Nothing  had  been  seen  and  nothing  heard  ; 
a  long  time  had  passed  and  he  had  returned  to  the 
point  where  he  had  been  stationed  and  lay  there  on 
his  robe  watching  the  crest  of  the  hill.     After  a  time 


i82  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

he  began  to  grow  sleepy,  but  he  shook  off  the  feeling 
and  rose  to  his  knees,  for  after  what  Hugh  had  said 
to  him,  he  felt  bound  in  honour  not  to  neglect  his 
post.  As  he  crouched  there,  trying  hard  not  to  yield 
to  the  drowsiness  which  was  creeping  over  him,  he 
suddenly  saw  a  bright  star  close  to  the  crest  of  the  hill 
disappear,  and  then  another.  His  sleepiness  was  for- 
gotten in  an  instant,  he  grasped  his  rifle  tightly  and» 
every  nerve  on  edge,  watched  to  see  what  would  hap- 
pen next.  For  a  little  while  nothing  was  seen,  then 
again  he  saw  a  star  disappear  and  then  another. 
These  which  were  hidden,  were  close  to  the  line  of  the 
hill,  and  it  looked  as  if  something  or  somebody  was 
passing  along  close  behind  the  hill,  between  the  boy 
and  the  stars.  Suddenly  two  or  three  bright  stars, 
one  above  another,  went  out  and  did  not  appear  again. 
Some  one  was  looking  over  the  hill.  Jack  raised  him- 
self a  little  higher  on  his  knees  and  with  his  finger  on 
the  trigger,  so  that  the  lock  should  make  no  noise, 
cocked  his  rifle  and  waited.  He  was  keyed  up  to  the 
very  highest  pitch  of  excitement,  and  was  prepared 
for  anything. 

Then  came  the  climax,  and  from  the  dark  object, 
whose  shape  he  could  dimly  discern  on  the  hill  top, 
arose  the  plaintive,  melancholy  howl  of  a  coyote. 
The  little  animal,  attracted  by  the  smell  of  blood,  had 
stolen  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill  and  was  now  calling  to 
its  fellows. 

The  reaction  from  the  excitement  of  the  moment 
before  was  extreme,  and  Jack  felt  disgusted.  He 
knew  enough  to  feel  sure  that  this  animal  would  not 
be  where  it  was,  if  there  were  any  enemies  immedi- 


THE  COUNTING  OF  A  COUP.  183 

ately  about  the  camp  and  felt  that  he  would  be  safe  in 
lying  down  on  his  robe  and  going  to  sleep  ;  and  now 
that  the  wolf  had  told  what  it  was,  he  felt  really  sleepy. 

As  he  looked  toward  the  camp,  he  could  see,  far  on 
the  eastern  horizon,  a  faint  pale  line,  which  told  him 
that  the  dawn  was  near.  Drawing  his  robe  over  his 
head  and  around  him,  so  as  to  conceal  the  light,  he  lit 
a  match  and  looked  at  his  watch.  It  was  half  past 
three  and  time  to  call  Hugh. 

He  slipped  quietly  down  into  the  camp  and  going 
into  the  lodge  roused  Hugh,  and  telling  him  the  time, 
Hugh  said  to  him,  "  You  lay  down  now  and  go  to 
sleep  and  I'll  call  two  other  men  and  we'll  watch  until 
it  gets  light,  which  won't  be  long.  Then,  as  soon  as 
day  breaks,  we  will  start  back  for  the  main  camp." 

Jack  was  soon  fast  asleep,  and  it  was  two  hours  later 
when  Hugh  called  him  and  told  him  to  get  up  and  eat 
breakfast,  for  the  camp  was  ready  to  move.  They 
were  soon  on  their  way  and  three  days  later  reached 
the  main  camp  on  the  Saint  Mary's  River  without 
adventure. 

Here  they  found  that  the  ceremonies  of  the  Medi- 
cine Lodge  had  for  some  reason  been  set  forward 
and  were  already  in  progress.  The  Lodge  had  been 
built  and  consecrated  by  the  Medicine  Lodge  women, 
the  sacrifices  had  been  hung  on  it,  the  sacred  tongues 
had  been  divided  among  the  people  in  the  camp,  pres- 
ents had  been  given,  old  quarrels  had  been  made  up, 
old  friendships  strengthened.  All  day  long  in  their 
shelter,  the  men,  whose  duty  it  was  to  keep  the  rain 
away,  were  dancing  and  whistling;  and  other  sacred 
dances  were  going  on  in  various  parts  of  the  camp. 


i84  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

After  the  returning  party  had  pitched  their  lodges, 
Hugh  and  Jack  started  out  to  see  what  they  could  of 
the  ceremonies  that  yet  remained.  Pushing  their  way 
through  the  crowd  of  people,  who  stood  and  sat  about 
the  Medicine  Lodge,  they  reached  the  inner  circle 
about  which  the  men  were  seated. 

Hugh  whispered  to  Jack,  "  I  am  glad  you  are  going 
to  see  this  anyhow.  These  young  men,  that  get  up 
and  make  speeches,  are  counting  their  coups.  They 
are  telling  the  brave  things  that  they  have  done  in 
wars  during  the  last  year  and  you  will  notice  when- 
ever one  tells  of  some  very  brave  thing  that  he  has 
done,  the  men  sitting  at  the  drums  pound  on  them. 
There  is  Redshirt !  I'll  interpret  to  you  what  he  says 
when  he  gets  through."  A  young  Indian  rose  to  his 
feet,  stepped  out  into  the  open  space,  spoke  earnestly 
for  three  or  four  minutes,  making  many  signs,  and 
when  he  finished  and  sat  down,  the  drummers  beat 
their  drums,  and  then  a  woman,  leading  two  horses, 
made  her  way  into  the  open  space,  and  threw  down 
the  ropes. 

"  There,"  said  Hugh;  "  Redshirt  said  something  like 
this.  '  In  the  Spring  I  went  to  war ;  I  went  down  the 
Little  river  ;  I  found  a  camp  of  Assiniboines.  While 
I  watched,  a  young  man  and  a  boy  come  riding  out 
toward  me.  I  think  they  were  going  to  get  horses. 
When  they  got  close,  I  shot  them  both  and  counted 
coup  and  scalped  them  and  took  the  horses  they  were 
riding  ! '  You  saw  that  woman  come  out  and  give  him 
those  two  horses.  She  is  Antelope  Woman,  and  her 
uncle  was  killed  last  year  by  the  Assiniboines.  You 
see  when  Redshirt  killed  these  two  people,  he  wiped 


THE  COUNTING  OF  A  COUP.  185 

away  her  tears,  and  now  she  wants  to  show  that  she 
thanks  him  for  giving  her  revenge  on  the  Assiniboines." 

Jack  was  intensely  interested  at  all  this  and  listened 
and  watched,  and  although  he  could  not  understand 
what  was  said,  he  could  gather  from  the  signs  and 
from  the  applause  of  the  listeners  something  of  the 
meaning  of  each  man's  speech.  The  counting  of  the 
coups  lasted  some  time,  but  at  last  the  intervals  be- 
tween the  speakers  grew  longer.  Suddenly  Hugh 
rose  to  his  feet  and  stepped  forward  to  the  open  space, 
holding  fast  to  Jack's  arm  and  pulling  him  after  him, 
so  that  in  a  moment  they  stood  out  there  in  the  open, 
gazed  at  by  all  the  people.  Hugh  made  a  short 
speech,  pointing  at  Jack  as  he  did  so,  and  when  he 
ended,  the  drummers  struck  their  drums  with  a  great 
noise  and  many  of  the  people  shouted.  Hugh  turned 
and  was  about  to  lead  Jack  back  to  the  place  where 
they  had  been  sitting,  when  suddenly  a  woman's  voice 
was  heard  at  the  edge  of  the  crowd,  and  turning, 
Hugh  saw  John  Monroe's  wife  leading  a  horse  toward 
them  ;  he  waited  a  moment,  and  when  she  entered  the 
open  space,  took  the  rope  and,  leading  the  horse, 
retired  with  Jack  without  the  circle. 

It  had  all  happened  so  suddenly,  that  Jack  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  it,  and  when  Hugh  stopped 
and  looked  down  at  him  with  an  amused  twinkle  in  his 
eye,  Jack  said,  "  What  in  the  world  does  this  all  mean, 
Hugh?" 

"  Why,"  said  the  old  man,  smiling,  "  I  thought  this 
was  a  pretty  good  time  for  you  to  count  your  first 
coup,  and  as  I  knew  that  you  could  not  do  it  for 
yourself,  because  you  can't  talk  Piegan,  I  had  to  do  it 


i86  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

for  you,  and  John  Monroe's  wife,  she  came  and  gave 
you  a  horse.  Pretty  decent  looking  horse,  too,  it  is," 
he  said  walking  around  the  animal, ''  looks  like  it  might 
run — 

*'  But  say,  Hugh,  you  don't  mean  to  say  that  you 
told  them  about  that  Indian  trying  to  steal  our  horse 
and  said  that  I  had  killed  him." 

"  That's  what,"  said  Hugh. 

**  Well,  but,  Hugh,  that  sounds  like  boasting,  even  if 
I  didn't  know  what  you  were  going  to  do.  Nobody 
knows  that  I  didn't  know  about  it,  except  you." 

"  Pooh,"  said  Hugh,  "  that's  nothing  ;  that's  all  right. 
This  is  the  one  time  in  the  year  when  a  man  is  expected 
to  talk  about  the  good  things  that  he  has  done. 
All  the  rest  of  the  time  he  has  got  to  keep  quiet  about 
it,  and  only  allow  others  to  talk  if  they  want  to  ;  but 
at  the  Medicine  Lodge  a  man  himself  can  tell  what  he 
has  done. 

"  I  wouldn't  be  surprised  If  they  gave  you  a  name 
now  ;  maybe  to-day.  Likely  enough  some  old  man — 
likely  some  one  of  my  friends  will  come  over  before  the 
day  is  through  and  want  to  adopt  you  and  give  you  a 
name.     How'd  you  like  that  ?" 

''  Oh,"  said  Jack,  ''Yd  like  that  That  would  make 
me  feel  at  home." 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  "it  won't  do  you  any  harm, 
Come  on.  It  is  getting  towards  sun  down,  let  us  go  to 
the  lodge." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

A  STRONG  TEMPTATION. 

As  Jack  and  Hugh  walked  away  from  the  crowd, 
Hugh  leading  the  horse,  he  talked  with  Jack  about  all 
the  mysterious  performances  of  the  Medicine  Lodge, 
and  said  how  sorry  he  felt  that  they  had  been  away 
when  the  ceremonies  began. 

*'  It's  a  great  religious  performance  with  these  peo- 
ple," he  said  ;  "  kind  o'  like  Christmas,  when  every- 
body gives  presents  and  everybody  prays,  and  then 
the  Medicine  Lodge  women  pray  for  everybody  in  the 
camp  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  tribe.  It's 
a  mighty  solemn  time,  I  tell  you." 

They  had  nearly  reached  the  lodge  when  Hugh 
handed  the  horse's  rope  to  Jack  and  told  him  to  tie 
the  animal  near  it. 

"  I  want  to  stop  to  speak  to  Double  Runner,"  he 
said,  and  he  turned  and  entered  one  of  the  lodges. 

Jack  went  on  to  John  Monroe's  and  tied  the  horse 
to  a  pin,  and  then  went  on  beyond,  within  the  circle 
of  the  lodges,  looking  at  the  paintings  on  the  different 
ones,  and  at  the  bundles  tied  to  tripods  that  stood  be- 
hind each.  He  wondered  what  the  different  paintings 
meant,  and  thought  he  would  sometime  get  Hugh,  or 
maybe  Joe,  to  walk  around  the  camp  with  him  and 
see  if  they  could  explain  them.     As   he    was  thinking 


i88  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

about  this,  he  suddenly  heard  quickly  running  foot- 
steps behind  him,  and  turned  to  see  Joe  rushing 
towards  him  as  fast  as  he  could ;  his  hair  flying  in 
the  wind,  and  his  white  teeth  disclosed  by  a  broad 
grin.  His  arms  were  stretched  forward  as  if  he  were 
about  to  seize  Jack.  Jack  sprang  to  one  side,  but  Joe 
turned  quickly  and  caught  him  around  the  body,  try- 
ing to  swing  him  off  his  feet,  but  Jack  had  the  under- 
hold  and  resisted,  and  for  a  moment  or  two  they  wres- 
tled there  in  silence.  Then  Joe  laughed  and  said, 
"  Can't  I  throw  you  ?  "  and  gave  him  a  swift  twist  to 
the  left,  but  Jack  responded  only  by  bending  Joe's 
back  toward  him  as  strongly  as  he  could.  For  a 
moment  the  back  was  stiff,  and  then,  little  by  little  it 
began  to  yield,  but  before  this  had  gone  far  Joe 
made  a  mighty  effort,  and  twisted  himself  free  from 
the  encircling  arms,  and  started  off  running  as  hard  as 
he  could  go.  Jack  pursued  and  for  some  minutes 
they  raced  around  in  and  out  among  the  lodges  until 
at  last,  Joe  finding  himself  before  John  Monroe's, 
threw  himself  on  the  ground,  laughing  merrily. 

"  Ha  !  my  brave  one,"  he  said  ;  *'  you  are  strong  and 
run  fast.  I  thought  I  should  throw  you  at  once,  but 
I  could  not."  Jack  sat  down  beside  him  and  for  some 
moments  nothing  was  heard  except  their  quick 
breathing. 

"  Well,"  said  Joe,  "  I  think  you  must  feel  proud  of 
what  has  happened  this  day.  It  was  a  great  thing  to 
be  able  to  stand  out  in  front  of  all  the-people  and  count 
a  coup.  I  was  proud  myself  to  see  this  thing  hap- 
pen to  my  friend." 

*'Well,"  said  Jack,  "I  was  so  surprised  that  I  did 


A  STRONG  TEMPTATION.  i8g 

not  think  anything  about  it,  and  I  didn't  know  what 
Hugh  was  going  to  do  when  he  dragged  me  out  into 
the  open  space.  I  guess  the  idea  must  have  come  to 
him  all  of  a  sudden  ;  anyhow,  he  never  said  a  word 
to  me  about  it,  but  just  got  up  and  took  a  hold  of  me, 
pulled  me  out,  and  the  first  thing  I  knew  he  was 
talking.  Then  I  didn't  know  what  he  was  talking 
about,  but  it  made  me  ashamed  to  be  standing  with 
everybody  looking  at  me." 

''  Well,"  said  Joe.  "  It's  a  big  thing.  It's  the  big- 
gest thing  ever  happened  to  anybody  near  your  age 
since  I  have  been  in  the  camp.  I  tell  you,  if  such  a 
thing  had  happened  to  me,  I  wouldn't  speak  to  any- 
body for  a  week,  I  think,  I  would  feel  so  big. 

"And  then  your  having  a  horse  given  to  you,  that 
made  it  all  the  better.  He  is  a  nice  horse,  too,  a  good 
riding  horse,  maybe  a  buffalo  horse." 

**  Yes,"  said  Jack,  *' it's  a  pretty  good  looking  horse. 
I  am  going  to  ask  John  Monroe  about  him  when  I 
see  him." 

''Why  do  you  call  him  John  Monroe?"  said  Joe; 
**  that's  his  white  man's  name  ;  but  we  here  all  call  him 
Pis'kun  ;  that  means  buffalo  corral." 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  Jack;  "I  have  heard  Hugh  tell 
about  how  they  used  to  drive  the  buffalo  over  the 
cliff  into  the  pen.  I  don't  suppose  they  do  that 
any  more,  do  they  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Joe,  "there's  plenty  of  men  in  the 
camp  that's  helped  to  do  that,  but  since  they  got  so 
many  guns  and  such  good  horses  they  don't  do  it  no 
more.  Some  day  likely  the  camp  will  stop  near  one 
of  the  old  places  where  they  used  to  jump  the  buffalo, 


I90  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

and  then  we  can  go  there  and  see  the  piles  of  stones 
on  the  prairie,  where  the  buffalo  used  to  run.  And 
down  under  the  jumping  off  place  you  can  see  yet 
lots  of  bones  and  old  horns." 

*' I'd  like  to  see  one  of  those  places,"  said  Jack; 
"  maybe  you  could  dig  round  in  the  dirt  and  find  some 
of  the  old  tools  that  the  Indians  used  to  use." 

"  Sure,"  said  Joe.  **  Often  they  dig  up  the  old 
stone  arrows,  and  sometimes  other  tools  of  stone  and 
bone  there,  that  were  left  by  the  old-time  people." 

'' Gracious,"  said  Jack,  "I'd  like  to  get  some  of 
those  things  to  take  back  with  me  when  I    go    home." 

*'  When  are  you  going?"  said  Joe. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Jack;  ''not  for  a  good  while 
yet ;  not  until  the  autumn  comes." 

''That's  good,"  said  Joe,  "we  will  have  plenty  of 
fun  first  then." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Jack,  "I  guess  so.  I  expect  we  will 
be  here  a  couple  of  months  yet.  I  haven't  spoken  to 
Hugh  yet  about  it." 

There  was  a  moment's  pause,  and  presently  Joe 
burst  out,  and  said  : 

"  Say,  don't  you  want  to  go  off  on  the  warpath  with 
some  young  men  ?  There's  a  war  party  going  to  start 
out  pretty  soon,  and  the  young  men  have  asked  me  to 
go  along,  and  the  leader  said  he'd  like  to  have  you  go 
too.  He  didn't  say  that  until  after  you  had  counted 
your  coup." 

"Jerusalem,"  said  Jack,  "I'd  like  that.  That 
would  be  fun,"  and  he  looked  at  Joe  with  his  face 
beaming  with  excitement.  Suddenly,  his  look  changed, 
and  he  said : 


A  STRONG  TEMPTATION.  191 

"  But  no,  I  could  not  go  anyhow.  Hugh  would 
never  be  willing  for  me  to  go  on  a  trip  like  that,  and  I 
wouldn't  sneak  off  without  speaking  to  him  about  it. 

"You  see,  Joe,"  he  went  on,  ''  when  I  came  up  here, 
I  promised  my  uncle  that  I  would  listen  to  Hugh 
about  everything,  and  would  take  his  advice  al- 
ways. It  wouldn't  be  square  either  to  Hugh  or  to 
my  uncle  if  I  didn't  do  as  I  promised  I  would.  Be- 
sides that  Hugh  has  been  mighty  good  to  me.  He 
has  helped  me  a  whole  lot  and  pretty  much  every- 
thing I  wanted  to  do  he's  said  I  could.  Look  at  his 
going  off  with  us  the  other  day  when  we  went  to  hunt 
antelope.  I  don't  expect  that  there  was  much  fun 
for  him  in  that.  I  think  he  went  because  he  thought 
I  wanted  to  go  and  wanted  to  give  me  pleasure.  It 
wouldn't  be  the  square  thing  for  me  to  go  back  on 
Hugh  that  way. 

"  He'd  be  mighty  uneasy  all  the  time  I'd  be  gone. 
Likely  he'd  be  hunting  for  me,  and  what  would  be 
lots  of  fun  for  me  would  be  giving  him  a  mighty  bad 
time.  Besides,  suppose  anything  should  happen  to 
me,  and  I  should  get  hurt  or  killed,  he'd  feel  mighty 
mean  going  back  to  my  uncle  and  telling  him  what 
had  happened." 

''Well,"  said  Joe,  "  I  guess  what  you  say  is  right. 
It  would  be  mean  to  make  White  Bull  feel  that  way. 
I'd  like  to  have  you  come.  We  could  go  and  get  a 
lot  of  horses  and  come  back  and  people  would  say  we 
had  done  well.  I  wish  you  could  go,  but  you  have  got 
to  do  what  you  think  is  good." 

Jack  felt  badly.  He  could  think  of  nothing  that 
would  be  so  much  fun  as  to  go  off  with  these  young 


192  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

men  and  make  a  long  journey,  and  take  some  horses 
from  the  enemy's  camp  and  then  return  and  be  praised 
by  all  the  people,  but  he  knew  as  well  as  he  knew 
anything  that  Hugh  would  never  consent  to  his  go- 
ing, and  he  felt  that  it  was  impossible  to  break  faith, 
even  for  so  great  a  pleasure.  He  remembered  all 
that  Hugh  had  done  for  him,  and  especially  how  he 
saved  his  life  at  the  Musselshell  River,  and  he  knew 
well  that  the  more  he  thought  about  it  the  more  firm 
would  be  his  resolve  not  to  give  Hugh  this  great 
anxiety. 

They  talked  about  it  a  little  longer  and  at  last  Joe 
got  up  to  go  and  Jack  went  into  the  lodge.  There 
he  found  John  Monroe's  woman  cooking  supper,  and 
spoke  to  her,  thanking  her  for  the  gift  of  the  horse 
made  to  him  that  afternoon, 

"  Why,"  she  said,  ''  I  was  proud  that  anybody  living 
in  my  lodge  should  have  done  so  brave  a  thing  as  you 
did.  Many  years  ago  the  Assiniboines  killed  my 
brother.  Since  then  my  heart  is  always  glad  when  I 
hear  of  one  of  their  people  being  killed." 

Jack  sat  down  on  his  bed  and  gave  himself  up  to 
gloomy  reflections.  What  a  wonderful  time  he  could 
have  if  he  were  to  go  off  with  this  war  party ;  how 
much  he  could  learn  of  the  ways  of  the  Indians  in 
their  fighting  ;  what  adventures  he  might  perhaps  have, 
and  what  strange  stories  he  could  tell  to  the  people  at 
home  when  he  returned  to  New  York.  But  there 
seemed  no  way  in  which  he  could  decently  go.  He 
determined,  at  all  events,  he  would  speak  to  Hugh 
about  it,  and  see  what  he  said. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait,  for  presently,  the    curtain 


A  STRONG  TEMPTATION.  193 

of  the  door  was  thrown  aside  and  Hugh  entered. 
When  he  had  seated  himself  and  had  filled  his  pipe, 
and  lighted  it  by  a  coal  from  the  fire,  Jack  said : 

"  Hugh,  I  have  got  something  to  say  to  you,  some- 
thing that's  troubling  me  and  that  I  think  I  ought  to 
tell  you.  Joe  came  to  me  this  afternoon,  and  told  me 
that  a  war  party  of  young  men  is  going  to  start  out, 
and  they'd  like  to  have  me  go  with  them.  At  first  I 
jumped  at  the  invitation,  but  then  when  I  thought 
about  it,  I  felt  'most  sure  that  you  would  not  be  will- 
ing for  me  to  go,  and  I  told  Joe  so.  Of  course,  I'd 
love  to  go  more  than  anything,  but  I  suppose  there's 
no  use  thinking  about  it." 

For  a  moment  or  two,  Hugh  said  nothing,  and 
then  he  turned  and  looked  at  Jack. 

**  Well,  son,  suppose  your  uncle  was  here,  do  you 
think  he'd  be  willing  to  have  you  go  ?  " 

*'  No,"  said  Jack,  ''  I  don't  believe  he  would.'* 

''Well,"  said  Hugh,  "suppose  your  father  and 
mother  were  here,  what  do  you  think  they'd  say  about 
it?" 

''  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  suppose  you  know  as  well  as 
I  do." 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "I  expect  I  do,  and  if  you  and 
I  both  know  what  your  uncle  and  your  father  and 
mother  would  say  about  it,  we  both  know  what  I  will 
say  about  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Jack  with  a  sigh,  "  I  suppose  so." 

"You  see,  son,"  said  the  old  man,  "  a  good  many 
people  would  have  thought  it  was  a  mighty  big  risk 
for  a  boy  of  your  age  to  go  travelling  across  the 
country  the  way  we  done,  to  an  Indian  camp  to  stop 


194  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

here  for  two  or  three  months.     Of  course,  there's  dan- 
ger in  it ;  but  then  there's  danger  everywhere,  and  if 
people  have  good  sense,  and  keep  their  wits  about  them, 
there  ain't  no  more  danger  travelling  on    the  prairie, 
than  there  is  travelling  on    a   railroad  train,  or  going 
about  back  in  the  states.     Anyway  that's  how  I  look 
at  it,  but  as  I  have  often  told  you  before,  I  don't  want 
you  to  go  hunting  for  danger.     I  want  you  to  keep  as 
far  from  it  as  you  can.     Now,  I  told  your  uncle    when 
he  let  us  come  off  up   here,  that  I  would  take  as  good 
care  of  you  as  I  knew  how..     I  have  done  it  and  I    am 
going  to  keep  on  doing  it.       You  might  go  off  on  a 
war  party  and  never  have  any  trouble  at  all,  and  then 
again  you  might  get  killed.     I  don't  want  to  see  you 
get  any  nearer  to  danger   than  you    have  to,  and    I 
wouldn't  let  you  go  to  war  if  I  could  help  it.     Now, 
there's  one  more  thing.     I  understand  just  as  well  as 
if  you'd  told  me  how  much  you  want  to  go  with  this 
party,    and   what    fun    you    think  you'd  sure    have. 
'Course,  you  could  have  slipped  away  out  of  the  camp 
without  saying  anything  to  me,  and  as  likely  as  not  I 
never  would  have  seen  you  until  you  got  back  again, 
and  of  course,  while  you  were  gone    I    should    have 
felt    mighty  bad,    not    knowing  but  what  you  might 
get  killed.       Your  speaking    to    me     this    way   just 
makes  me  think  more  than  ever  what  I  have  always 
thought  since  I  first  got  to  know  you;  that  you  are 
square  ;  that  when  you  say  you  will  do  a  thing   you 
will  do  it.     Now,  it  ain't  every  boy  of  your  years  that 
would  have  had  the  pluck  to  say  no  when  a  chance  of 
this  kind  came  to  him,  just  because  he  knew  that  to 
say  yes,  would  make  a  friend  feel  bad.     I  understand 


A  STRONG  TEMPTATION.  195 

pretty  well  how  you  felt  about  it  and  just  what  ha?, 
been  going  on  in  your  mind,  and  I  won't  never  forget 
it.  It  makes  us  closer  friends  than  we  have  ever 
been  yet ;  "  and  reaching  out  his  hand,  he  grasped 
Jack's  in  a  firm,  close  grip,  that  brought  the  tears 
to  the  boy's  eyes. 

**  Never  you  mind,  son,"  Hugh  went  on,  "we'll 
have  plenty  of  good  times  yet  while  we  are  in  this 
camp,  and  we'll  keep  our  words  to  the  people  down 
south  and  back  east  that  we  made  promises  to.  We 
may  have  trouble  of  one  sort  or  another,  but  we  won't 
give  anybody  a  chance  to  call  us  liars." 

That  night  after  supper  as  they  were  sitting  around 
the  fire,  Hugh  and  John  Monroe  talking,  and  Jack 
listening,  partly  to  what  they  said,  and  partly  to  the 
distant  sounds  of  the  camp — the  singing,  the  drum- 
ming, the  hum  of  conversation,  the  laughter  and  the 
galloping  hoofs — he  noticed  that  some  of  the  singing 
sounded  constantly  more  distinct,  and  presently  it 
was  directly  in  front  of  the  lodge.  Here  two  or  three 
songs  were  sung,  and  Hugh  taking  a  piece  of  tobac- 
co from  his  pocket  handed  it  to  the  woman  who 
passed  it  out  through  the  door  of  the  lodge.  A  mo- 
ment later  Joe's  smiling  countenance  appeared  in  the 
doorway,  and  he  said  to  Jack  : 

*'  Come  on  out,  and  go  round  the  camp  with  us." 

"Go  on,"  said  Hugh  to  Jack.  "They're  a  lot  of 
young  men  going  round  singing  in  front  of  the  differ- 
ent lodges  ;  maybe  it's  your  war  party  getting  ready 
to  start  out." 

Jack  seized  his  hat  and  dived  through  the  doorway, 
and  when  he  was  outside    and    his    eyes    had  grown 


196  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

accustomed  to  the  darkness  he  saw  that  a  group  of 
eight  young  men  stood  before  the  lodge.  Joe  took 
him  by  the  arm  and  said  to  him  : 

"  We're  going  round  singing  in  front  of  the  lodges, 
and  sometimes  they  give  us  presents.  These  are  the 
men  that  are  going  off  to  war.  You  know  Bull  Calf, 
and  likely  before  you  leave  the  camp  you  will  know 
all  the  rest  of  them." 

In  a  moment  or  two,  the  little  group  started  on, 
and  after  passing  several  of  the  lodges,  stopped  before 
one,  where  they  sang  two  or  three  songs.  These  were 
plaintive  and  melancholy  to  Jack's  ear,  and  yet  full  of 
spirit.  Of  course,  he  did  not  know  the  airs  and 
could  not  sing,  but  he  listened.  He  looked  about  over 
his  strange  surroundings  and  half  wondered  whether 
it  could  be  possible  that  he  were  standing  here  with 
these  Indian  boys  under  the  brilliant  moon  and  in  this 
circle  of  white  lodges.  The  music  as  it  was  sung 
thrilled  and  moved  him  strangely  and  it  seemed  to  him 
as  if  it  must  all  be  a  dream. 

A  little  bundle  was  passed  out  from  this  lodge 
door,  and  they  set  out  again.  Jack  whispered  to  Joe, 
as  they  walked  along  : 

''  How  strange  these  songs  are." 

**  Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  they  ain't  much  like  white  men*s 
songs.  These  that  they  are  singing  now  are  all  camp 
songs,  but  there  are  lots  of  other  kinds.  Some  of 
them  for  war  and  some  of  them  for  dancing,  or  songs 
that  young  fellows  sing  when  they  are  courting  their 
girls,  or  songs  that  they  sing  when  they  are  praying ; 
lots  of  different  kinds." 

"  Well,"   said   Jack,   "  I'd  love  to  know  some  of 


A  STRONG  TEMPTATION.  197 

them  so  that  I  could  sing  them  when    I  went   back 
East." 

For  a  long  time  the  young  men  wandered  about 
through  the  camp,  but  at  last  stopped  not  far  from 
John  Monroe's  lodge.  There  they  separated  and 
went  to  their  several  homes.  Joe  walked  back  with 
Jack  and  said  good  night  to  him  in  front  of  the 
lodge.  When  Jack  entered  he  found  Hugh  and  John 
Monroe  still  talking.  Soon  after,  they  all  went  to 
bed  and  the  fire  died  down. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WHITE   WARRIOR,    PIEGAN. 

Early  next  morning,  Joe  put  his  head  in  at  the 
lodge  door  with  a  look  of  some  importance  on  his 
face,  and  seeing  Jack  sitting  by  the  fire,  beckoned  to 
him  and  then  went  out  again.  Jack  followed  and 
joined  him  a  few  steps  from  the  lodge,  and  they 
walked  out  away  from  the  circle,  toward  the  prairie. 
Before  they  had  gone  far,  Joe  said :  "  Say,  Jack,  I 
started  out  this  morning  to  tell  you  that  I'd  made  up 
my  mind  that  I  wouldn't  go  on  the  war  party,  but 
would  stay  here  in  the  camp.  If  you  can't  go,  I  don't 
want  to  go  either.     I'd  rather  stop  here  with  you." 

"That's  good  of  you,  Joe,"  said  Jack,  "I'd  be 
mighty  lonesome  if  you  were  to  go  off ;  it's  kind  of 
you  to  give  up  the  trip  for  me." 

"  Hold  on,"  said  Joe,  "  I  ain't  got  through  yet.  As 
I  was  coming  around  this  morning  to  tell  you  about 
this,  I  met  Bull  Calf,  and  he  says  the  whole  party  has 
been  given  up.  Skunk  Bear,  he  was  the  leader  you 
know,  had  a  bad  dream,  and  now  they're  all  afraid  to 
go.  They're  afraid  bad  luck  will  happen,  so  they're 
none  of  'em  going." 

"  How  do  you  mean  a  bad  dream,  Joe  ?  "  said  Jack. 
"  What's  that  got  to  do  with  their  going  to  war  ?  " 

"  Why,"  said  Joe,  "  it's  got  a  whole  lot  to  do  with  it. 
Don't  you   know  that  dreams  come  to   us  to  tell  us 


WHITE  WARRIOR,  PIEGAN.  199 

what  is  going  to  happen?  And  if  a  man  dreams  that 
some  bad  luck  is  coming,  he's  got  to  look  out,  for  if 
he  isn't  careful,  the  bad  thing  will  happen  and  maybe 
he'll  get  killed,  or  hurt  himself,  or  get  sick." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  ''that  seems  queer.  I  never 
heard  of  anything  like  that  before.  Doing  things  be- 
cause dreams  tell  you  to,  or  not  doing  them  because 
dreams  tell  you  not  to  !  " 

"  Well,"  said  Joe,  ''it's  so.  You  ask  any  of  the  old 
men,  they'll  tell  you.  There  have  been  lots  of  times 
when  men  have  started  off  on  the  war-path,  and 
dreamed  they  saw  themselves  wounded,  and  then  have 
been  wounded,  and  sometimes  men  have  dreamed 
that  they  saw  one  of  the  party  lying  dead  on  the 
ground,  and  a  little  while  after,  the  man  that  they 
dreamed  about  was  killed  by  enemies.  I  tell  you,  the 
Indians  depend  a  whole  lot  on  dreams." 

"  Well,  son,"  said  Hugh  to  Jack  later  in  the  day, 
"  don't  you  want  to  try  your  new  horse  ?  Let's  sad- 
dle up  and  ride  a  few  miles  up  the  lakes  and  see  what 
sort  of  a  beast  he  is.  I  asked  John  Monroe  about 
him,  and  he  says  he's  a  running  horse,  a  good  buffalo 
horse  or  a  good  pony  for  war." 

"Yes,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  "  I'd  like  to  try  him  first- 
rate." 

The  two  went  out  and  saddled  their  horses  and 
crossing  the  river,  rode  along  the  trail  up  the  lake. 
When  they  came  to  one  of  the  little  open  parks  they 
ran  a  short  race,  and  Jack's  horse  proved  to  be  very 
fast.  They  kept  on  up  the  lake  for  five  or  six  miles, 
and  then,  as  the  mosquitoes  were  bad,  turned  about 
and  rode  back  to  the  camp. 


200  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

As  they  drew  up  in  front  of  the  lodge,  Jack  saw  sit< 
ting  there,  a  man,  whom  at  first  he  took  to  be  very 
old,  but  after  they  had  unsaddled  and  had  walked  up 
to  him,  he  saw  that  he  was  not  such  a  very  old  man, 
but  that  his  hair  was  white,  all  except  two  black  locks 
on  the  right  side.  He  was  extremely  tall  and  very  thin. 
Hugh  seemed  very  glad  to  see  the  man  and  shook 
hands  with  him  most  cordially  ;  then  after  speaking  to 
him  for  a  few  moments,  he  called  Jack  to  him  and 
said,  ''  Son,  I  want  you  to  know  this  man  ;  this  is  Last 
Bull.  He  is  one  of  the  best  men  of  the  tribe.  He  is 
getting  old  now,  but  in  his  time  he  has  been  a  great 
warrior.  He  is  not  such  a  very  old  man  as  you  would 
think  from  his  white  hair,  he  is  one  of  those  gray- 
haired  people  such  as  you  see  lots  of  in  the  tribe,  and 
his  hair  has  always  been  this  colour  since  he  was  a 
little  child.  I'd  like  to  have  you  know  him  well,  and 
I  want  to  have  him  like  you.     He  is  a  good  man." 

Jack  shook  hands  with  the  man  who  smiled  in  a 
most  kindly  way,  and  then  turning  to  Hugh  spoke  at 
some  length.  Hugh  looked  greatly  pleased  and  said, 
*'  Why,  son,  Last  Bull  has  always  been  a  great  friend 
of  mine,  and  he  says  that  hearing  that  you  had  come 
to  the  camp  with  me,  and  hearing,  too,  about  the 
good  things  that  you  have  done  since  you  came,  he 
wants  to  give  you  a  name ;  probably  it  will  be  some 
name  that  he  has  borne  himself  when  he  was  a  young 
man.  What  do  you  say,  would  you  like  to  have  him 
do  so  ?  If  he  gives  you  a  name  he  will  always  regard 
himself  as  your  adopted  father,  and  will  think  a  great 
deal  of  you." 

''  Why  !  "  said    Jack,  "  that  would  be   splendid.     I 


WHITE  WARRIOR,  PIEGAN.  201 

would  love  to  have  him  do  that,  and  I'd  think  it  a 
great  honour.     It  would  make  me  feel  mighty  proud." 

When  Hugh  had  interpreted  to  Last  Bull  what 
Jack  had  said,  the  Indian  seemed  pleased.  Stepping 
up  to  Jack,  he  took  him  by  the  right  arm  and  led  him 
a  little  way  forward,  turning  him  so  that  his  face 
looked  toward  the  sun,  and  stretching  his  own  arms 
upward  toward  it,  and  then  closing  his  hands  as  if 
grasping  the  sunlight,  he  turned  again  to  Jack  and 
rubbed  them  over  his  head,  his  shoulders,  and  down 
his  arm.s,  and  over  his  body.  Then  Last  Bull  made  a 
prayer,  which  Hugh  interpreted  to  Jack  afterward. 
He  said  : — 

"  O  Sun,  Old  Man,  Creator,  look  down.  Have  pity  ; 
have  pity.  Listen.  Look  down  on  this  my  son  and 
on  me.     Pity  us. 

*'  I  am  old,  but  all  my  life  you  have  looked  after 
me.  This,  my  son,  is  young,  he  is  just  beginning  ;  care 
for  him  all  through  his  life.  Give  to  him,  always, 
plenty  of  all  those  things  that  all  men  desire.  Increase 
his  body,  so  that  he  may  grow  strong.  Harden  his 
flesh,  so  that  he  may  always  be  well.  Give  him 
health  ;  give  him  full  life  ;  let  him  live  to  great  age. 
Watch  him  as  he  journeys  to  and  fro  over  the  country  ; 
guard  him  against  all  dangers  and  against  all  harm. 
Protect  him  in  battle.  Let  neither  the  arrows  nor  the 
bullets  of  the  enemy  strike  his  body,  or  if  they  must 
strike  it,  let  them  not  pierce  his  flesh,  but  turn  them 
aside,  so  that  they  shall  do  him  no  harm.  Grant  that 
he  may  always  have  good  sense,  and  may  act  wisely  ; 
make  his  eyes  keen  to  see  danger  at  a  distance,  and 
his  ears  quick  to  hear  the  enemies  that  are  creeping 


202  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

up  on  him.  Let  his  wisdom  be  that  of  the  raven,  his 
craft  that  of  the  wolf,  his  sight  like  the  eagles,  and  his 
hearing  that  of  the  little  prairie  fox.  Give  to  him  the 
strength  of  the  buffalo  bull,  so  that  when  he  rushes 
upon  his  enemies,  he  will  overthrow  them  as  the  bull 
overthrows  his. 

''  Oh  Sun,  Old  Man,  Creator,  look  down.  Have 
pity.  Listen.  Many  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  young 
man,  I  went  to  sleep  for  power,  up  on  the  top  of  the 
pinnacle  of  a  high  mountain,  where  all  men  feared  to 
go.  For  four  days  without  food  or  drink,  I  slept 
there  ;  for  two  days  and  two  nights  lying  on  my  right 
side,  and  for  two  days  and  two  nights  on  my  left. 
On  the  fourth  night  my  dream  came  to  me  and  said, 
*  I  have  heard  your  prayers  and  your  cryings,  and  I 
have  taken  pity  on  you,  and  henceforth  I  will  be  with 
you  always,  and  now  I  will  give  you  a  name.  You 
shall  be  a  great  man  for  fighting,  and  your  name  shall 
be  Fighter,  and,  because,  though  you  are  yet  young, 
your  head  is  white,  you  shall  call  yourself  White 
Warrior,  and  when  your  enemies  see  your  white  hair 
coming  towards  them,  they  shall  be  afraid.* 

"  My  Son,  for  many  years  I  had  this  name,  but  now 
I  am  growing  old,  and  I  no  longer  go  on  the  war 
path.  Now  I  do  not  need  this  name,  and  so,  my 
Son,  I  give  it  to  you.  To  me  it  has  been  fortunate 
and  I  can  see  that  it  will  be  so  to  you  also." 

Then  Last  Bull,  again  stretching  his  arms  towards 
the  sun,  and  again  seeming  to  grasp  the  sunlight  in 
his  hands,  passed  them  over  Jack's  head,  and  shoul- 
ders and  body,  then  he  turned  away  and  walked  to 
the  lodge  and  sat  down  on  the  ground. 


WHITE  WARRIOR,  PIEGAN.  203 

Jack  had  most  curious  feelings  while  this  prayer 
was  being  made.  The  man,  who  was  speaking, 
was  so  earnest,  and  so  moved  by  the  prayer 
that  he  had  made,  that  Jack  could  not  but  be 
moved  himself.  He  felt  solemn,  as  if  he  were 
in  a  big  gloomy  church  and  the  organ  were  playing 
solemn  music  that  thrilled  him.  When  Last  Bull 
turned  away  from  him  and  walked  towards  Hugh, 
Jack  picked  up  his  hat  from  the  ground,  where  he  had 
thrown  it,  and  followed  with  his  head  bent  down,  and 
feeling  as  if  he  had  just  come  out  of  the  church. 

Last  Bull  and  Hugh  talked  together  for  some  time, 
and  Jack  sat  there  and  listened,  though  of  course,  he 
understood  nothing  of  what  was  being  said.  At  length 
Hugh  went  into  the  lodge,  and  after  a  few  moments 
came  out  and  handed  a  package  to  Last  Bull,  who 
presently  arose,  and  after  shaking  hands  again  with 
Jack,  stalked  off  across  the  camp. 

"Gracious!  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  '*  I  wish  you  would 
tell  me  all  about  Last  Bull  and  what  he  did,  and  what 
he  said,  and  what  you  were  talking  about.  I  never  saw 
such  an  interesting  person,  and  it  seems  as  if  he  must 
have  a  wonderful  history,  if  it  could  only  be  told." 

**  Well,  son,  that's  so,"  said  Hugh,  "  he  is  a  mighty 
queer  man  in  some  ways,  but  a  mighty  good  man. 
There  isn't  an  Indian  in  the  camp  that  I'd  rather  have 
take  an  interest  in  you,  than  Last  Bull;  he  is  certainly 
the  bravest  man  in  the  whole  camp.  He  might  easily 
enough  be  head  chief,  but  he  never  would  take  it. 
When  he  was  young,  all  his  pleasure  was  going  to 
war,  and  in  his  time  he  has  killed  a  great  many  of  his 
enemies.     He   has  also  had    one   big  trouble  that  I 


204  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

know  about  and    can  tell  you  of.      One  time,  a  good 
many  years  ago,  he  was  travelling  with  a  party — just 
a  few  lodges ;  they  were  charged  by  the   enemy  and 
ran,   but    Last    Bull's  wife  was  on  a  slow  horse  and 
while  he  was  trying  to  fight  the  enemy  off,  she  was 
captured.      He    charged  back  into  the   thick  of  the 
enemy  three  or  four  times  to  try  and  rescue  her,  but 
couldn't,  though  his  bravery  stopped  the  pursuit,  and 
the  enemy  drew  off  on  a  hill.     Some  of  the  attacking 
party  could  talk  Piegan,   and  they   asked    the   captive 
woman  who  she  was.       She   was   brave,  too,  and  she 
laug-hed  at  them  and  told  them  that  she  was  the  wife 
of  that  brave  man  that  had  charged  back  on  them  so 
often,  and  that  had  killed  three  of  their  party.      And 
when  the   enemy  understood   that,    they   pushed   the 
woman  out  in  front  of  their  line,  and  shot  her  full  of 
arrows,  right  there  in  Last  Bull's   sight.      Last    Bull 
was  a  young  man  when  that  happened,  and    I    often 
thought,  maybe  that  was  one  of   the  reasons  why   he 
was  always  going  on  the  war-path.      The   people  that 
killed  his  wife  were  Snakes,  and  I've  always  heard  that 
he    cared    a  great    deal    more  to  go  on  the  war-path 
across  the  mountains  looking   for  Snake  camps,  than 
he  did  for  going  to  war  on  the  prairie." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  *'  I  don't  wonder  that  he  was  a 
fighter  after  that." 

"  No,"  said  Hugh,  "  these  Indians  are  great  hands 
to  get  revenge  if  they  think  they  have  been  injured. 
They  always  want  to  get  even. 

"  There  was  another  queer  thing  happened  to  Last 
Bull,"  said  Hugh.  ''He  didn't  know  about  it  at  the 
time,  but  he  heard  of  it  afterward,  and  I  expect  it  must 


WHITE  WARRIOR,  PIEGAN.  205 

have  made  him  feel  pretty  bad.  When  he  was  a  little 
fellow,  he  had  a  brother  two  years  older  than  himself, 
and  one  time,  in  a  big  flight  that  they  had  with  the 
Snakes,  this  older  brother  was  captured  by  the 
Snakes  and  was  raised  in  their  camp.  Of  course  that 
made  him  a  Snake  in  his  feelings,  and  when  he  grew 
up  and  went  to  war,  he  fought  with  the  enemies 
of  the  Snakes,  and  so  with  theBlackfeet  tribes.  After 
Last  Bull  had  become  a  man  and  a  good  warrior,  the 
Snakes  and  the  Pieo^ans  one  time  had  a  bi^:  fic^ht  on 
the  prairie.  The  parties  were  pretty  evenly  matched, 
and  it  was  about  a  stand-off  between  the  two.  The 
fight  was  over  and  the  Snakes  were  slowly  drawing  ofT  ; 
not  running,  but  just  moving  off  slowly,  and  the  Pie- 
gans  didn't  dare  to  follow  them,  but  just  as  they  were 
getting  out  of  range.  Last  Bull  stepped  out  in  front  of 
the  line  and  fired  a  last  shot  at  the  enemy.  It  was 
done  more  for  brag  than  for  anything  else,  but  he 
happened  to  hit  a  man  and  kill  him.  Two  years  af- 
terwards, the  Snakes  and  the  Piegans  made  peace  for 
awhile,  and  then  the  Snakes  told  them  that  the  man 
that  was  killed  by  that  last  shot  was  Last  Bull's 
brother.  Of  course,  Last  Bull  didn't  know  that  his 
brother  was  in  the  fight,  and  in  fact,  never  had  known 
anything  about  him  except  that  he  had  been  captured 
by  the  Snakes ;  but  I  expect,  likely,  it  made  the  old 
man  feel  pretty  bad." 

"  I  should  think  so,"  said  Jack. 

That  afternoon,  John  Monroe  told  Hugh  that  he 
was  going  to  give  a  feast  that  night,  and  was  going  to 
invite  a  number  of  the  principal  men  of  the  camp  to 
eat  and  smoke  with  him.     He  told  Hugh,  that  although 


2o6  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Jack  was  only  a  boy,  he  wanted  him  to  sit  in  the  circle 
with  the  feasters.  And  when  Hugh  heard  this,  he 
said  to  John,  "  Look  here,  John,  why  don't  you  ask 
Blood  Man  to  come  too?  Jack  will  feel  pretty  lonely 
sitting  there  with  a  lot  of  old  men  and  not  understand- 
ing anything  that's  said,  and  with  nobody  to  talk  to ; 
if  you  ask  the  other  boy  it  will  be  a  heap  pleasanter 
for  Jack,  and  I  don't  reckon  the  old  men  will  mind  it 
if  you  explain  to  them  why  you  did  it."  John  said 
that  he  thought  that  this  would  be  good,  and  told 
Hugh  that  he  would  call  Joe  to  the  feast. 

Jack  was  very  much  interested  to  hear  what  was 
going  to  take  place,  and  greatly  pleased  to  know  that 
Joe  was  coming  too,  for  he  knew  that  if  Joe  sat  by 
him  he  would  at  least  get  the  general  drift  of  what 
was  said  by  the  old  men  when  they  made  their 
speeches,  after  eating. 

All  through  the  afternoon  John's  wife  and  her  two 
sisters  were  busy  cooking  food.  Bread  was  baked  from 
flour  which  came  from  Hugh's  supply,  and  he  also  pro- 
vided enough  coffee  and  sugar  to  make  coffee  for  the 
guests.  Besides  this,  the  women  boiled  and  cooked 
great  kettles  of  antelope  meat,  and  of  dried  buffalo 
tongues,  and  of  back  fat,  as  well  as  other  kettles  of  sarvis 
berries.  A  little  before  sundown,  all  was  ready,  and 
John,  going  out  in  front  of  the  camp,  called  out  the 
names  of  the  various  guests,  sometimes  repeating 
the  invitation  over  and  over  :  "  Last  Bull,  you  are 
asked  to  eat.  Last  Bull,  you  are  asked  to  eat.  Last 
Bull,  you  are  asked  to  eat ;  and  you  will  smoke."  In 
this  way  he  called  out  names  of  fifteen  of  the  impor- 
tant men  of  the  camp,  and  not  very  long  afterward  the 


WHITE  WARRIOR,  PIEGAN.  207 

guests  were  seen  approaching  from  different  parts  of 
the  camp.  John  Monroe  sat  at  the  back  of  the  lodge, 
with  Hugh  at  his  left  hand  and  Jack  and  Joe  on  his 
right.  The  others,  as  they  came  in,  had  their  seats 
pointed  out  to  them  by  the  host ;  the  more  important 
men  sitting  furthest  back  in  the  lodge,  while  the 
younger  ones  were  nearer  the  door.  It  took  some 
little  time  for  the  whole  party  to  assemble,  but  when  all 
were  there,  the  women,  at  a  sign  from  the  host,  passed 
around,  first  the  dishes  and  cups,  and  then  the  food. 

The  dishes  were  a  curious  mixture  of  the  ancient 
and  the  modern.  There  were  some  tin  plates  and 
spoons,  but  most  of  the  dishes  were  great  bowls  hol- 
lowed out  of  wood,  though  two  or  three  were  made  of 
strips  split  from  the  buffalo  horn,  and  sewed  together 
with  sinew.  Such  dishes,  though  serviceable  enough 
for  holding  meat,  of  course,  leaked  and  could  not  be 
used  for  anything  that  was  fluid. 

Little  was  said  until  the  meal  was  over.  Occasion- 
ally a  man  chatted  in  a  low  voice  with  his  neighbour, 
or  some  more  loudly  spoken  jest  was  uttered,  at  which 
all  laughed.  Jack  was  surprised  to  see  that  the  host 
was  not  served  with  food.  He  did  not  eat  anything, 
but  occupied  his  time  during  the  meal  by  cutting  up 
tobacco  on  a  board  in  front  of  him,  and  mixing  it  pre- 
paratory to  filling  the  great  stone  pipe,  which  was  to  be 
smoked  after  all  had  finished  eating.  As  the  dishes 
were  cleared  away  by  the  watchful  women,  Pis'kun 
pushed  the  tobacco  and  the  pipe  over  to  Joe,  and 
made  a  sign  to  him.  The  boy  cleaned  out  the  pipe, 
filled  it,  and  passing  it  back  to  the  host,  reached  over, 
and  with  a  pair  of  tongs  made  from  a  forked    twig. 


2o8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

drew  from  the  fire  a  coal  which  he  placed  on  the  pipe. 
The  host  smoked  until  the  pipe  was  well  going,  then 
blew  a  puff  of  smoke  to  the  sky,  turned  the  stem 
toward  the  earth,  and  made  a  low  voiced  prayer.  Then 
he  handed  the  pipe  to  the  man  on  his  left,  who,  with- 
out smoking,  passed  it  to  the  next  one,  and  so  from 
hand  to  hand  it  passed  along  until  it  reached  the  guest 
nearest  the  door.  He  smoked  as  the  host  had  done, 
made  a  prayer,  passed  the  pipe  back  to  the  man  on  his 
right,  who  in  turn  smoked,  and  so  the  pipe  passed 
round  the  circle,  until  it  reached  the  host  again. 

Soon  after  the  pipe  had  passed  him,  the  oldest  man 
present.  Calf  Robe,  rose  to  his  feet  and  spoke  for 
some  little  time.  When  he  had  finished,  Joe  whispered 
to  Jack  that  the  man  had  been  praising  John  Monroe, 
and  had  also  spoken  of  Hugh's  return  to  the  tribe, 
and  of  the  young  man  that  he  had  brought  with  him. 
Calf  Robe's  speech  was  followed  by  others,  and  Jack 
waited  for  Joe  to  tell  him  what  tliey  were  talking 
about ;  but,  although  he  nudged  Joe  two  or  three  times 
to  try  to  get  him  to  look  at  him,  Joe  seemed  to  be  so 
much  interested  in  the  speeches,  that  he  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  Jack,  who  sat  there,  altogether  in  the  dark  as 
to  what  was  going  on.  Presently  another  one  of  the 
elder  men,  whom  Jack  recognised  as  Iron  Shirt,  the 
head  chief,  stood  up  and  said  a  few  words,  and  then, 
to  Jack's  surprise,  Hugh  turned  to  him  and  said,  ''Son, 
Iron  Shirt  wants  me  to  interpret  to  you  what  he  is  go- 
ing to  say."  Then  Iron  Shirt  went  on,  speaking 
slowly,  a  sentence  at  a  time,  and  waiting  until  Hugh 
had  interpreted  it  to  Jack,  and  this  was  the  speech  he 
made: 


WHITE  WARRIOR,  PIEGAN.  209 

**  My  Son,  you  have  come  here  from  a  far  country 
with  this  white  man,  who  is  our  old  friend.  White  Bull. 
We  have  known  him  for  many  years.  He  tells  us  that 
you  have  come  from  the  edge  of  the  world,  from  where 
the  earth  runs  down  to  meet  the  salt  water.  He  has 
told  us  about  you,  that  you  are  a  good  young  man, 
true,  speaking  only  the  things  that  are,  and  neither 
talking  foolishly  nor  falsely.  Before  you  had  come 
into  our  camp,  but  while  you  were  yet  in  sight  of  it, 
you  did  a  brave  thing  and  saved  from  death  the  child 
of  one  of  those  sitting  here.  Since  you  have  been 
with  us,  we  have  watched  you  in  the  camp.  We  have 
seen  that  you  are  quiet  and  orderly,  and  we  have 
found  too  that  you  are  brave.  A  few  nights  ago,  when 
our  people,  with  whom  you  were  camped,  were  attacked 
by  enemies,  you  defended  them  and  killed  one  of 
these  enemies.  I  am  glad  that  so  good  a  person  has 
come  to  stay  with  us,  and  all  the  camp  are  glad  too. 
I  should  like  to  have  you  stay  with  us  always,  and  be- 
come one  of  my  children.  Sitting  about  you  to-night 
there  are  chief  men  of  the  camp  and  we  all  of  us  wish 
to  have  you  become  a  Piegan,  and  to  be  in  fact,  what 
I  think  you  are  in  your  heart,  one  of  our  people. 
Therefore,  now  this  day,  although  your  skin  is  white, 
we  have  chosen  you  one  of  us,  and  from  this  time  you 
belong  to  the  tribe  of  the  Piegans.  What  I  say  to 
you  now,  I  do  not  say  for  myself  alone,  but  I  say  it 
for  these  who  are  sitting  here,  and  also  for  the  whole 
tribe." 

The  old  man  ceased  speaking  and  sat  down.  Jack 
had  grown  red  and  white  alternately,  as  he  had  heard 
Hugh's  interpretation,  and  his  feelings  were  so  strong. 


2IO  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

that  for  a  moment  he  had  almost  felt  like  crying.    He 
turned  to  Hugh  and  said  : 

"  What  shall  I  do,  Hugh?     Shall  I  say  anything?" 

"  Why,"  said  Hugh,  ''  I  expect  they'd  like  to  have 
you  say  something,  even  if  it  is  only  a  little,  in  an- 
swer." 

It  was  the  first  time  that  Jack  had  ever  spoken  in 
public,  and  as  he  stood  upon  his  feet,  his  knees  shook, 
and  his  tongue  seemed  dry.  All  he  could  say  was, 
*'  Hugh,  I  wish  you  would  tell  them  how  proud  I  feel 
to  have  them  talk  as  they  have  talked,  and  how  glad  I 
am  to  be  a  member  of  the  tribe.  Tell  them  I'll  never 
forget  this  night,  if  I  live  to  be  a  thousand  years,  and 
that  when  I  go  back  East,  wherever  I  may  be,  I'll 
always  think  of  the  members  of  the  Piegan  tribe  as 
my  friends  and  my  brothers." 

Jack  sat  down  with  his  ears  ringing  from  the  effort 
that  he  had  made,  and  overwhelmed  with  shyness  and 
embarrassment.  At  the  same  time  his  heart  swelled 
with  pride  at  the  honour  that  had  been  done  him  and  he 
squeezed  Joe's  hand,  which  had  sought  his,  with  a 
fervent  clasp.  Soon  after  this,  the  guests  rose,  one  by 
one  and  filed  out  of  the  lodge,  and  the  last  to  go  was 
Joe,  who,  dragging  Jack  with  him,  rushed  out  of  the 
lodge,  and  standing  in  front  of  it,  gave  vent  to  a  series 
of  shrill  whoops  and  yells,  and  then  he  and  Jack, 
throwing  their  arms  about  each  other,  wrestled  in  the 
darkness  until  both  were  exhausted. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   CAMP   MOVES. 

It  was  two  or  three  days  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Medicine  Lodge,  when  Jack,  walk- 
ing through  the  camp  one  morning,  found  himself  face 
to  face  with  Hezekiah.  The  negro  had  discarded  the 
feather  which  he  wore  in  his  head  when  Jack  had 
seen  him  last,  and  he  was  now  clad  in  leggings,  a  much 
worn  cotton  shirt  and  moccasins.  He  knew  Jack  ^t 
once  and  came  up  to  him,  shaking  his  hand  most 
cordially. 

''Well,"  said  he,  ''Master  Jack,  you  got  here  all 
right,  didn't  you  ?  Hope  you  didn't  have  no  trouble 
on  your  way  up.  Didn't  get  captured  by  nobody  else, 
did  you  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Jack,  laughing,  "we  got  pretty  well 
scared  after  you  left  us,  and  came  near  running  onto 
two  or  three  Indian  camps,  but  we  got  around  them 
without  being  discovered  and  had  no  trouble  at  all. 
Hugh  was  saying,"  he  went  on,  "  that  you  Piegans 
would  be  mighty  sorry  you  hadn't  stayed  with  us, 
when  we  were  travelling  around  among  those  camps, 
south  of  the  Yellowstone.  We  didn't  want  anything 
of  the  people,  but  Hugh  said  that  the  war  party  would 
have  given  anything  to  have  had  such  a  chance  to 
take  horses." 

"Bad   luck,"   said    Hezekiah,    "we   didn't    see   no 


212  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

enemies,  and  didn't  make  no  war  and  just  crime  trail- 
ing in  yesterday  afternoon  not  having  done  nothing  at 
all.  I  hear,  though,  that  you  done  yourself  mighty 
proud,  Master  Jack.  The  Indians  were  telling  me 
last  night  that  you  killed  an  enemy  that  was  trying  to 
take  horses  from  Fox  Eye's  camp,  over  to  Grassy 
Lakes,  and  that  after  you  killed  him  you  counted  coup 
on  him.  That  was  fine  thing  for  you  to  have  done, 
and  all  your  friends  are  proud  of  you. 

*'  I  don't  know  whether  you  know  it,  Master  Jack, 
but  you've  got  lots  of  friends  in  this  camp  ;  people  here 
think  a  whole  lot  of  you.  First  they  like  you  because 
you  kinder  belong  to  the  old  man,  and  then,  because 
you  saved  Little  Plume's  daughter  from  getting 
drownded,  and  now,  because  you  have  shown  that 
you're  brave,  even  if  you  are  so  young  and  haven't 
been  long  on  the  prairie." 

"  Well,  Hezekiah,  I  am  mighty  glad  to  hear  you  say 
that.  I  expect  anybody  is  glad  if  people  like  him, 
I  know  I  am.  Everybody  in  the  camp  is  always  kind 
and  pleasant  and  smiHng,  they  don't  seem  like  the 
Indians  I  have  always  read  about.  Those  were 
always  solemn  and  silent  and  gruff,  and  didn't  do  any- 
thing but  grunt ;  but  those  people  here  are  just  as 
pleasant  as  they  can  be  and  always  laughing  and  jok- 
ing, and  doing  kind  things  ;.  I  tell  you  they  are  as  nice 
people  as  I  ever  want  to  be  with." 

''  Oh  yes,  they're  good  people,  Master  Jack,"  said 
Hezekiah,  "I  like  'em  right  well.  Master  Jack,"  he 
went  on,  "  would  you  mind  coming  over  to  my  lodge  ? 
I'd  like  to  have  you  see  my  wife  and  my  babies. 
I've  got  a  nice  family,  sir  !     My  wife,  she  is  old  Lone 


THE  CAMP  MOVES.  213 

Person's  girl ;  he  is  a  chief  of  one  of  the  bands,  you 
know  ;  quite  a  great  man." 

''Why,  sure,  I'll  go,  Hezekiah,"  said  Jack;  and  the 
two  walked  over  to  a  large  lodge  not  far  off. 

Jack  found  Hezekiah's  wife  a  neat  pleasant-faced 
young  woman,  and  the  lodge  was  kept  in  very  good 
order.  Three  odd  little  children,  perfect  negroes  in 
appearance,  were  playing  about  close  at  hand,  and  a 
tiny  baby  with  great  rolling  eyes  and  tightly  curling 
hair,  was  strapped  to  a  board  and  swinging  to  one  of 
the  lodge  poles. 

After  some  conversation,  Hezekiah  hinted  some- 
what diffidently,  that  he  would  be  glad  if  Jack  would 
eat  with  them,  and  Jack  was  very  ready  to  accept  the 
invitation,  which  seemed  to  please  both  Hezekiah  and 
his  wife.  Jack  passed  a  good  part  of  the  afternoon  in 
the  lodge,  and  when  at  last  he  left  it,  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  would  try  to  see  something  of  Hezekiah 
in  the  future. 

One  afternoon,  not  very  long  after  the  Medi- 
cine Lodge  was  over,  Jack  was  sitting  in  front  of  the 
lodge  with  Hugh,  when  he  heard  the  distant  voice  of 
the  camp  crier  shouting  out  the  news,  as  he  rode 
about  the  circle  of  the  lodges.  He  listened  for  a 
while,  and  as  the  man  drew  nearer  and  the  sounds 
which  he  uttered  grew  more  distinct.  Jack  turned  to 
Hugh  and  asked  him  what  the  old  man  was  saying. 

''  Hold  on  a  minute,"  said  Hugh,  ''wait  till  he  gets 
closter,  I  can't  just  hear  all  he  says,  but  it  is  some- 
thing about  moving  the  camp,  and  buffalo.  I  guess 
likely  they  are  going  to  start."  Presently,  he  added, 
"  Yes,  this  is  what  he  says :  '  Listen,  listen,  everybody 


214  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

pay  attention.  To-morrow  the  camp  will  move.  All 
the  lodges  must  be  taken  down  early.  Everybody 
must  pack  up  soon  after  sunrise.  The  camp  will 
move  toward  the  Sweet  Grass  Hills.  You  men,  get 
your  horses  close.  You  women,  pack  up  your  things 
to-night,  the  chiefs  have  ordered  to  start  early.  Lis. 
ten,  listen,  everybody  pay  attention.'  " 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  *'  I  am  glad  they  are  going.  We 
have  been  here  a  long  time  now,  and  I'll  be  glad  to 
get  out  on  the  prairie  again,  and  glad  to  see  the 
Indians  chase  buffalo.  They'll  do  that,  won't  they, 
Hugh,  when  they  get  into  the  buffalo  country  ?" 

"  Lord,  yes,"  said  Hugh,  ''  that's  the  only  way  they 
kill  buffalo,  except  now  and  then  when  they  find  one 
or  two  old  bulls  off  by  themselves,  when  they  some- 
times creep  up  to  one,  and  kill  him  that  way  ;  but 
whenever  they  want  to  make  a  big    killing,    to    get 

meat  and  lodge  skins  for  everybody,  then    they  chase 

>       »> 
em. 

"  Well,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  "  how  shall  we  do  when  the 
camp  moves?  Just  pack  our  animals  and  travel 
along  with  them  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  guess  we  may  as  well  pack 
our  animals,  and  then  we'll  let  the  old  man's  women 
drive  them.  They'd  be  glad  to  pack  them  too,  but  I'm 
afraid  if  they  did,  that  first  thing  we  knew,  some  of 
them  horses  would  get  a  sore  back,  and  I  don't  want 
that  to  happen.  You  see,  likely  as  not,  we've  got  to 
travel  down  South  with  these  horses  again,  and  I 
mean  to  keep  them  in  good  order,  so  that  they'll  serve 
us  while  going,  just  as  they  did  when  we  came  up  here." 

*' Why,"  said  Jack,  ''  it  doesn't    seem  to  me  as  if  we 


THE  CAMP  MOVES.  215 

ought  to  let  the  women  pack  the  horses,  that's  man's 
work.     Ain't  it,  Hugh?"  v/ 

"No,"  said  Hugh,  '' not  among  Indians\  Man's 
work,  in  an  Indian  camp,  is  to  kill  meat  for^ood,  and 
skins  for  clothing,  and  to  go  to  war,  so's  to  get  rich 
and  to  make  people  think  well  of  himself  and  his 
family,  and  to  defend  the  camp.  The  woman's  work 
is  to  look  out  for  the  lodge,  to  take  care  of  the  chil- 
dren, to  make  the  clothing  and  to  see  to  the  moving 
of  the  camp.  It  ain't  so  very  different,  you  see,  from 
what  it  is  among  white  folks.  Take  it  among  In- 
dians, a  man's  business  is  hunting,  and  going  to  war. 
White  men  hunt  for  fun,  but  Indians  don't.  Indians 
hunt,  so  that  they  can  live,  just  the  same  as  any  man 
in  the  States  goes  to  his  store  in  the  morning,  and 
sells  things  all  day  so  as  to  earn  money  to  support  his 
family." 

"  Why  no,"  said  Jack,  "  it  ain't  so  very  different 
from  what  the  white  man  and  the  white  woman  do. 
Is  it?" 

"  Not  very,"  said  Hugh.  "  Now,  I'll  tell  you,  son," 
he  went  on,  "  let's  pack  up'  most  all  our  truck  to-night, 
and  get  the  packs  ready  to  put  on  the  horses  in  the 
mornincr.  Our  horses  will  be  driven  in  with  the  old 
man's,  and  we  can  catch  them  and  pack  them,  and 
leave  them  here  for  the  women  to  drive  on  with 
theirs,  and  then  we  can  either  go  ahead  with  the  sol- 
diers, or  if  you  like,  you  can  stop  in  the  camp,  and  see 
them  take  down  everything  and  begin  to  move." 

"  I  think  I'd  rather  stay  here  and  see  them  move, 
Hugh,"  said  Jack.  ''But  what  do  you  mean  by  the 
soldiers?  " 


2i6  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  Why,  the  soldiers,"  said  Hugh,  *'  are  sort  of   con- 
stables  like.      I    thought  I'd   told   you    about   them. 
They're  young  men  that  are  going  to  war  all  the  time, 
and  they're  the  ones  that  see  that  the  orders  given  by 
the  chiefs  are  obeyed.     It  is  like  this ;  if  there  was  any 
man  to-morrow  morning,  who  said  he  was  not  going 
to  move,  and  whose  lodge  was  not  taken  down,  the 
soldiers  would  go  to  him  and  if  he  were  obstinate,  just 
as  like  as  not  they'd  give  him  a  good  licking  with  their 
quirts.      If  he  still  refused  to  go   with  the  camp,  they 
might  tear  down  his  lodge,  break  the  lodge  poles  and 
even  cut  the   lodge-skins  to    pieces.      It   is   a   pretty 
se'^ious  matter  you  see,  to  disobey  the   chief's   orders, 
and  really,  'tisn't  ever  done." 

After  supper  that  night,  Joe  came  to  the  lodge,  and 
after  a  little  talk  said  to  Jack,  "  Isn't  this  great,  that 
we  are  going  to  move  and  going  to  chase  buffalo  ?  " 

"You  bet  it  is  great,"  said  Jack.  "  You  know  I've 
never  seen  a  buffalo  chase,  and  I've  always  thought  it 
must  be  a  fine  thing  to  see." 

"I  tell  you,"  said  Joe;  "after  they  kill  plenty  of 
buffalo,  everybody  is  glad.  All  through  the  camp 
they  put  up  the  drying  scaffolds,  and  as  the  meat  is 
brought  in,  they  cut  it  into  thin  slices  and  hang  it 
over  the  poles,  and  for  a  little  while  it  looks  as  if  red 
cloth  was  stretched  all  through  the  camp.  Of  course, 
after  two  or  three  hours,  it  gets  dry  and  brown,  but 
when  it  is  first  put  up,  it  is  real  pretty  I  tell  you." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  hope  I'll  see  that.  You  can't 
think,  Joe,  how  much  I  want  to  find  out  everything 
about  the  Indians.  Everything  that  they  do,  and  say, 
and  think,  is  so  different  from  anything  I've  ever  seen 


THE  CAMP  MOVES.  217 

before,  that  it  just  makes  me  pretty  near  crazy  when 
I  think  what  a  chance  I've  got  here,  and  how  little  I've 
learned  yet." 

"Oh  well,"  said  Joe,  "you'll  know  a  heap  before 
you  go  away,  but  I  don't  want  you  to  know  every- 
thing, because,  then  maybe  you'd  never  come  back. 
Suppose  you  go  away  this  Fall,  not  knowing  every- 
thing, maybe  you'll  come  back  next  Spring  to  learn 
the  rest." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  can't  think  of  any  better  fun 
than  to  do  just  that."  After  a  minute  he  went  on, 
"  You've  killed  buffalo,  Joe  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  a  few,  not  many.  I  haven't  got 
a  good  running  horse,  and  so  I  never  killed  many 
chasing  them.  It  takes  a  pretty  good  horse  to  catch 
a  cow.     You've  got  two." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do,  the 
first  chase  we  have,  I'll  let  you  ride  my  new  horse,  and 
I'll  ride  Pawnee ;  then  maybe  we'll  both  have  good 
luck." 

"That'll  be  good,"  said  Joe.  "  Suppose  I  ride  that 
new  horse,  I'm  pretty  sure  to  have  good  luck." 

"Look  here,  son,"  broke  in  Hugh,  who  had  been 
sitting  near  them,  "you'll  want  to  have  a  lesson  in 
buffalo  running  before  you  try  it  the  first  time.  There's 
some  things  that  a  greenhorn  has  got  to  be  told. 
Now,  when  you  start  to  chase  buffalo,  you  must  ride 
right  up  close  to  the  animal  you  are  trying  to  kill. 
You'll  never  kill  any  buffalo  if  you  are  afraid  of  them. 
Ride  right  up  within  two  or  three  yards  of  a  cow,  and 
when  you  are  about  even  with  her  hips,  shoot  at  her, 
and  try  to  hit  her  in  the  heart.     You  must  remember 


2i8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

what  I've  told  you  so  many  times,  that  you  have  got 
to  shoot  low  down  to  kill  any  animal,  but  at  a  buffalo, 
with  its  big  hump,  you've  got  to  shoot  lower  down 
than  most  anything  else.  That's  the  great  trouble  most 
men  have  when  they  hunt  buffalo  the  first  time,  they 
shoot  too  high,  and  the  ball  goes  through  the  meat 
and  don't  hurt  the  buffalo  a  bit.  If  you'll  remember 
those  two  things,  to  get  up  close,  and  to  shoot  low 
down,  you  won't  have  any  trouble  about  killing  your 
buffalo." 

The  next  morning  when  Jack  looked  out  of  the 
lodge,  a  great  change  had  come  over  the  camp.  Many 
places,  where  lodges  had  stood  the  night  before,  were 
now  vacant.  In  other  places  only  the  conical  frame 
work  of  poles  was  seen,  and  in  others  the  women  were 
just  pulling  away  the  lodge  skins,  or  in  some  cases 
were  standing  on  a  travois  which  leaned  against  the 
lodge,  and  were  unpinning  its  front.  The  camp  was 
full  of  horses,  many  of  them  tied  to  pins  or  bundles  of 
baggage,  or  to  travois,  but  many  others  were  roaming 
loose  through  the  circle.  Jack  had  never  before  seen 
all  the  horses  of  the  camp  gathered  together,  and  was 
astonished  at  their  numbers.  All  about  the  circle 
were  piles  of  robes,  bundles,  saddles,  cooking  utensils, 
and  other  property  which  the  women  were  gathering 
together,  tying  up,  packing  on  the  horses,  or  loading 
on  the  travois. 

The  scene  was  one  of  great  activity,  and  the  work 
that  was  being  done  was  not  conducted  in  silence. 
There  were  colts  that  had  lost  their  mothers  and  were 
scream.ing  shrilly,  and  mares  were  neighing  for  their 
missing  colts.     The  camp  dogs  were  in  a  state  of  high 


THE  CAMP  MOVES.  219 

excitement,  and  were  barking  or  howling,  or  got  in 
people's  way,  and  when  kicked  out  of  it,  yelped  dole- 
fully. The  little  boys,  who  swarmed  through  the 
circle,  were  shouting,  whooping,  running  races  and 
wrestling.  The  women,  w^orried  by  the  labour  of 
packing  and  of  looking  after  their  children  and  their 
horses,  called  to  each  other  with  high  pitched  voices, 
and  many  of  the  babies  missing  their  mother's  atten- 
tion, added  their  cries  to  the  babel  which  prevailed. 

Jack  watched  the  scene  for  a  little  while,  and  then 
going  back  into  the  lodge,  said,  ''  Well,  Hugh,  I  never 
expected  to  hear  so  much  noise  in  this  camp  as  there 
is  this  morning.  Will  they  ever  quiet  down  again  ? 
This  isn't  very  much  like  the  camp  we  have  been  in 
for  the  last  three  weeks." 

"  No,"  said  Hugh,  "  the  first  day  that  camp  is 
broken  after  a  long  stop  in  any  one  place,  they  make 
quite  a  racket.  You'll  see,  though,  that  when  they 
move  to-morrow,  things  will  go  a  good  deal  more 
smoothly.  Now,  as  soon  as  we've  finished  eating,"  he 
went  on,  "let's  catch  up  our  horses  and  pack  them, 
and  tie  them  up  here  with  old  John's.  Then  I'm  go- 
ing on  ahead  with  the  old  men,  and  if  you  want  to, 
you  can  stop  here  as  long  as  you  like  ;  only,  if  I  were 
you,  I  wouldn't  wander  away  from  the  column  very 
much.  You  see,  now  we  are  going  out  on  to  the 
prairie,  where  there  is  more  danger  of  meeting  enemies, 
and  I  wouldn't  go  off  alone  at  all.  Get  Joe  to  go  with 
you,  or  go  with  some  little  party  of  two  or  three  men, 
or  ask  me  and  I'll  ride  with  you  wherever  you  want 
me  to." 

"All  right,"  said  Jack,  "I'll  remember.     I've  seen 


220  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

enemies  enough  for  a  little  while,  and  I  don't  want  to 
run  onto  any  more  of  'em." 

It  did  not  take  them  long  to  catch  and  pack  their 
horses.  Jack  tied  up  his  new  riding-horse  with  the 
pack-animals,  and  John  Monroe's  wife  said  that  she 
would  see  that  they  were  all  driven  on.  Then  Hugh 
started  off  to  join  the  head  of  the  column  which  had 
already  begun  to  cross  the  river,  while  Jack  mounted 
Pawnee,  and  rode  about  through  the  camp.  It  was 
very  amusing  to  him  to  watch  the  various  operations 
that  were  going  on.  Women  were  constantly  com- 
pleting the  work  of  packing  and  starting  off  with  their 
families,  to  follow  those  who  had  gone  on  before,  so 
that  there  was  a  continuous  stream  of  people  heading 
toward  the  river,  entering  it,  crossing  and  clambering 
out  on  the  other  side.  The  trail  climbed  a  steep 
bluff  there,  and  the  long  line  of  people  that  followed 
it,  made  Jack  think  of  a  brightly  coloured  serpent 
slowly  making  its  way  up  the  hillside. 

At  last  he  tired  of  the  scenes  of  the  camp,  and  riding 
to  the  river,  joined  the  procession  that  was  crossing  it. 
Once  on  the  other  side,  he  turned  Pawnee  out  of  the 
trail,  and  rode  on  rapidly  toward  the  head  of  the 
column  where  he  joined  Hugh.  Twenty-five  or  thirty 
old  and  middle-aged  men  were  in  the  lead,  and  behind 
them  rode  more  than  a  hundred  young  men  on  fine 
horses,  handsomely  dressed,  and  well  armed.  A  few 
of  them  carried  rifles ;  many  others  double-barrel  shot- 
guns, but  a  great  many  were  provided  only  with  bows 
and  arrows  which  they  now  carried  in  cases  on  their 
backs. 

''  Oh !  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  as  he  rode  up,  "are  these 
young  men  here  the  soldiers  ?  " 


THE  CAMP  MOVES.  221 

''  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  they're  the  soldiers.  They  all 
belong  to  one  of  the  secret  societies,  the  Mut'siks, 
that  means  brave.  As  I  was  saying  to  you  last  night, 
if  the  chiefs  want  anything  done  they  tell  these  young 
fellows  to  have  it  done.  There's  quite  a  long  story 
about  these  different  secret  societies,  and  some  night 
when  we  have  plenty  of  time,  we'll  have  to  get  some 
of  the  old  men  to  tell  us  these  stories.  You  see, 
usually,  they  don't  talk  much  about  these  things  to 
white  folks,  but  I've  heard  'most  all  the  stories,  and 
likely  they  wouldn't  mind  telling  them  to  you.  You 
see,  one  reason  an  Indian  don't  like  to  talk  about 
sacred  things  to  white  men,  is,  that  he's  afraid  the 
white  man  will  laugh  at  him,  but  of  course  they  know 
you  wouldn't  do  that  any  more  than  I  would." 

"  I  should  think  not,"  said  Jack,  "  I'd  be  so  pleased 
to  hear  anything  that  they  were  willing  to  tell  me,  that 
I  don't  think  I'd  laugh  at  it  even  if  it  were  real 
funny." 

"  No,"  said  Hugh,  "  of  course  you  oughtn't  to.  Of 
course,  some  of  these  things  that  the  Indians  believe 
sound  ridiculous  to  us  white  folks,  but  they're  mighty 
real  to  them,  and  they  believe  in  them  just  as  we  be- 
lieve in  a  whole  lot  of  things  that  likely  would  sound 
mighty  ridiculous  to  them.  Some  of  them  bible 
stories  for  example.  You  couldn't  get  an  Indian  to 
believe  them,  and  yet  white  folks  think  it's  all  so." 

*'  You  mean  the  miracles  ?  "  said  Jack. 

"  Yes,  I  expect  that's  it." 

After  a  little  pause  Jack  asked  Hugh,  "  What  are 
those  men  doing  that  I  see  crossing  the  hills  ahead  of 
us,  Hugh?" 


222  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  Why,"  said  Hugh,  "  those  are  young  men  and 
boys  that  are  out  hunting  through  the  brush  to  kill 
anything  that's  there  before  the  camp  gets  along,  and 
scares  everything.  We're  likely  to  stop  before 
we've  gone  much  further,  and  to  wait  for  the  column 
to  close  up.  Then  those  young  fellows  will  get  quite 
a-ways  ahead.  Of  course,  they'll  kill  any  game  that 
they  might  come  across,  and  then  too,  they  will  scout 
the  country  for  any  enemies  that  might  be  about." 

Hugh  had  hardly  stopped  speaking,  when  the  old 
men  drew  in  their  horses,  and  dismounting,  sat  down 
in  a  circle  on  the  ground,  and  the  soldiers  too  got  off 
their  horses  and  the  people  behind  them  stopped. 
Pipes  were  filled  and  were  passed  from  hand  to  hand. 
"  What  are  they  waiting  for,  Hugh  ?"  said  Jack. 

"  Why,  you  see,  son,"  said  the  old  man,  "  there's 
always  a  lot  of  people  that  are  late  leaving  the  camp, 
and  they  have  stopped  here  to  let  such  people  catch 
up,  so  that  the  column  won't  be  scattered  out  too  far. 
Sometimes  it  happens  if  they  straggle  too  much,  that 
a  little  war  party  may  dash  down  onto  the  column, 
and  kill  two  or  three  women  and  then  ride  off  again 
before  anybody  can  get  near  enough  to  punish  them." 

After  half  an  hour's  rest,  the  march  was  taken  up 
again  and  before  long,  the  last  hill  was  climbed,  and 
the  camp  moved  forward  along  an  open  ridge  that  led 
toward  the  prairie.  From  time  to  time  the  trail 
passed  through  scattering  patches  of  aspen  or  through 
a  point  of  pine  timber  running  down  from  the  moun- 
tains, but  by  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  they  had 
left  the  mountains  well  behind  them,  and  a  little  later, 
they  camped  in    the  open  valley  of  a  branch   of  the 


THE  CAMP  MOVES.  223 

Milk  River.  It  surprised  Jack  to  see  how  speedily  the 
lodges  were  erected  and  how  short  a  time  it  took  this 
unorganized  mob  of  people  to  settle  down  into  the 
ordinary  routine  of  camp  life. 

For  several  days  the  village  moved  eastward,  cross- 
ing the  Milk  River,  and  at  last,  one  night,  they  camped 
near  the  base  of  the  Sweet  Grass  Hills.  Ever  since 
leaving  the  mountains,  buffalo  had  been  in  sight.  At 
first  only  an  occasional  individual,  then  small  groups  of 
three  or  four  bulls,  later  little  herds.  But  here,  at  the 
base  of  the  Sweet  Grass  Hills,  they  were  abundant, 
and  from  an  elevation  the  prairie  was  seen  to  be 
dotted  with  them,  almost  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach.  On  the  march  a  few  buffalo  had  been  killed 
by  men  who  had  stolen  up  to  them  quietly  ;  but  no 
one  had  chased  buffalo,  for  the  chiefs  had  given  strict 
orders  against  it. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

RUNNING  BUFFALO. 

Just  before  sundown  one  evening,  as  Jack  and 
Hugh  sat  in  front  of  the  lodge,  the  now  famihar  voice 
of  the  old  crier  was  heard  shouting  the  news  to  the 
camp.  At  first  the  words  uttered  at  a  great  distance 
had  no  meaning,  but  as  the  old  man  drew  nearer, 
Hugh  nodded  his  head  as  he  listened,  and  Jack  asked, 
''  What  is  he  saying,  Hugh  ?  '* 

"  He  is  calling  out  the  orders  of  the  chiefs,"  said 
Hugh,  ''and  this  is  what  he  says:  'Listen,  listen, 
everybody  pay  attention.  To-morrow  we  will  chase 
buffalo.  All  must  get  in  their  horses.  Men  whet 
your  arrow-points,  women  sharpen  your  knives.  To- 
morrow morning  early,  everybody  will  start  out.  So 
the  chiefs  have  ordered.'  That's  just  about  what  he 
says  and  he  rides  about  the  camp  repeating  this  over 
and  over  again.  You  see,  it  is  necessary  that  every- 
body should  know  just  what  is  going  to  be  done,  so 
that  all  may  get  ready,  and  every  person  in  the  camp 
may  have  an  equal  chance  to  get  food  to-morrow." 

"Oh  !  "  said  Jack,  "  there  go  the  boys  and  men  now 
to  gather  in  the  horses."  For  he  had  seen  young  men 
and  boys  on  foot,  starting  for  the  hills,  which  in  all 
directions  from  the  camp,  were  dotted  with  the  feeding 
Indian  ponies. 


RUNNING  BUFFALO.  225 

**Yes/*  said  Hugh,  "and  as  you  are  the  youngest 
person  in  this  lodge,  you  might  as  well  get  on  your 
horse  and  go  out  and  bring  in  oUrs.  What  horse  are 
you  going  to  ride  to-morrow,  Pawnee  or  your  new 
runner  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  think  Fll  ride  Pawnee,"  said  Jack,  "as this 
is  going  to  be  my  first  chase.  I  know  him  and  he 
knows  me,  and  until  I  get  a  little  bit  used  to  running 
buffalo,  I  thought  Fd  use  him." 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  expect  that's  what  you'd 
better  do.  But  if  I  was  you,  Fd  bring  in  the  new 
horse  too  and  tie  him  up  close  to  the  lodge.  You 
don't  want  to  leave  a  fast  horse  like  that  out  on  the 
prairie,  nights,  for  most  any  time,  you  know,  a  little 
war  party  might  come  along,  and  take  a  lot  of  the 
horses  that  are  in  the  hills,  and  it  would  be  a  pity  to 
lose  a  running  horse." 

"Fll  remember  that,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  "but  I 
thought  anyhow,  Fd  bring  the  new  horse  in  to-night, 
and  lend  him  to  Joe  to-morrow.  You  see,  he  hasn't  got 
any  good  horse,  and  he  was  telling  me  that  he  had 
never  yet  killed  many  buffalo  in  a  chase,  because  he 
had  to  ride  slow  old  horses  that  couldn't  catch  buf- 
falo." 

"  Good  idea,"  said  Hugh,  "  it'll  give  him  a  lot  of 
pleasure,  and  maybe  get  him  some  credit,  and  it  won't 
do  you  no  harm." 

It  was  dark  before  the  horses  had  been  brought  in, 
and  picketed  close  to  the  lodge,  and  yet  the  hum  of 
unusual  bustle  pervaded  the  camp.  As  they  sat  about 
the  fire  in  the  lodge,  just  before  going  to  bed,  Hugh 
said  to  Jack,  "  You  see,  son,  how  the  very  noises  in 


226  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS, 

tlie  camp  show  that  something  unusual  is  happening. 
You  notice  to-night  there  is  no  singing  and  no  drum- 
ming, but  the  people  are  talking  more  than  usual  and 
more  horses  are  moving  around  through  the  camp, 
and  people  too.  Everybody  is  getting  ready.  Now, 
if  you  could  go  around  and  look  into  the  lodges,  you'd 
see  that  in  a  good  many  of  them  men  are  praying. 
Some  of  them  have  got  out  their  sacred  things  and 
they're  burning  sweet  grass  and  sweet  pine  and  purify- 
ing themselves,  and  praying  to  the  Sun  to  give  them 
good  luck  to-morrow  ;  to  let  their  horses  run  fast,  so 
that  they  can  catch  the  fattest  of  the  cows  ;  not  to  let 
them  stumble  or  step  into  holes,  so  that  there  will  be 
no  falling ,  and  to  make  their  arrows  go  straight,  so 
that  they  shall  kill  plenty  of  food.  You  see,  it  is  kind 
o*  hard  for  us  white  folks  to  understand  what  a  buf- 
falo chase  means  to  the  Indians.  These  buffalo  are 
just  about  all  they've  got  to  live  on,  and  if  the  buffalo 
should  be  taken  away,  all  the  people  would  starve  to 
death.  The  most  important  thing  for  every  man,  wo- 
man and  child  in  the  camp,  is  to  have  plenty  of  food. 
So  when  these  people  start  in  to  chase  buffalo,  they 
pray  hard  for  good  luck. 

"  I  mind  when  I  was  a  kid,  back  in  the  States,"  he 
went  on^  ''  that  we  used  to  have  prayers,  sort  o'  like 
this ;  only  there,  we  called  it  Thanksgiving.  The 
preacher  used  to  thank  the  Lord  for  all  the  good  that 
had  come  during  the  past  year,  and  to  pray  for  all  the 
good  the  Lord  would  let  us  have  next  year.  What  they 
talked  about  there  was,  big  crops,  lots  of  corn  and 
pumpkins  and  a  good  mast  year,  so  that  the  hogs 
would   be  fat,  and    plenty    of  rain  to  make  the  grass 


RUNNING  BUFFALO.  227 

grow,  so  that  the  critters  would  have  lots  of  feed. 
Lots  of  times  my  old  mother  has  took  me  to  such 
preachings,  and  I  used  to  sit  there  on  the  bench  next 
to  her,  with  my  little  legs  not  half  reaching  to  the 
ground,  and  listen  to  what  the  preacher  said." 

*'  Oh  yes,  Hugh,  of  course  I  have  been  to  church  on 
Thanksgiving  Day  lots  of  times,  but  I  think  in  New 
York  the  minister  preaches  about  what  has  gone  be- 
fore more  than  about  what  is  to  come  next  year." 

It  was  still  dark  next  morning  when  the  crackling  of 
the  fire  roused  Jack  from  his  slumbers,  and  in  a  few 
moments  after  he  had  thrown  off  the  robe  which  was 
his  covering,  he  was  outside  the  lodge  looking  up  into 
the  clear  black  sky,  which  sparkled  with  thousands  of 
brilliant  stars.  The  camp  was  awake,  and  through 
the  covering  of  each  lodge.  Jack  could  see  the  glimmer 
of  fires,  and  from  every  smoke-hole,  sparks  flew  up- 
ward. While  the  men  were  eating  breakfast,  the 
smiling  face  of  Joe  showed  itself  in  the  doorway,  and 
he  entered  and  sat  down  by  Jack. 

**  Hello,  Joe,"  said  his  friend,  "  did  you  bring  your 
saddle  ?  I've  got  the  new  horse  tied  out  here  and  he's 
all  ready  for  you  to  ride  to-day  in  the  chase." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  Joe,  *'  I  don't  need  no  saddle,  I'm  go- 
ing to  ride  bareback  same  as  all  the  other  Indians 
do.  It  is  only  white  men  that  use  saddles,  and  now 
you  are  a  Piegan,  you'll  have  to  learn  to  hunt  buffalo 
as  the  Piegans  do." 

*'A11  right,*' said  Jack,  '' that'll  suit  me  too  well, 
but  I  guess  until  I've  been  through  one  or  two  chases, 
I'll  stick  to  the  old-fashioned  saddle.  It  seems  to  me 
a  man  has  got  to  have  a  whole  lot  of   practice   before 


228  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

he  can  ride  a  day  bareback.  I  used  to  try  it  some- 
times down  on  the  ranch,  and  I'll  tell  you  it  didn't 
take  me  long  to  get  tired." 

"Yes,"  said  Joe,  "you've  sure  got  to  practice." 
And  Hugh  added,  "And  the  sooner  you  start  in  to  do 
it  the  better.  You  ought  to  learn  to  ride  bareback, 
and  you  ought  to  learn  to  use  the  bow  and  arrows. 
You  can  use  that  Assinaboine's  bow  and  arrows  that 
you  captured.  That's  a  right  good  bow,  but  you'll 
need  some  more  arrows.  We'll  try  to  get  some  after 
we  get  back." 

"  Oh,  Hugh  !  "  said  Jack,  "  are  you  going  with  us  ?  " 

"I  reckon  I'll  have  to,"  said  Hugh.  "You  see, 
we've  got  to  kill  some  meat  for  the  old  woman  here. 
We're  stopping  in  the  lodge  and  eating  her  food  right 
along,  and  we've  got  to  hunt  and  kill  our  share.  I  ex- 
pect likely  you'll  kill  a  plenty  to-day,  but  anyhow,  I 
thought  I'd  go  along  too." 

"That's  fine,"  said  Jack,  "  I  wish  we  could  ride  to- 
gether, but  I  guess  Pawnee  will  run  away  from  old 
Baldy." 

"  I  guess  likely  he  will,"  said  Hugh  with  a  twinkle 
of  fun  in  his  eye,  "  but  maybe  when  you  see  the  horse 
I'm  going  to  ride  to-day,  you'll  think  Pawnee  has  his 
work  cut  out  for  him." 

"Why,"  said  Jack,  "what  horse  are  you  going  to 
ride?  " 

"  Never  you  mind,"  said  Hugh  ;  "you'll  see  after  a 
while." 

When  they  went  out  of  the  lodge,  the  dim  light  in 
the  eastern  sky  showed  that  the  day  was  about  to  break. 
At  one  end  of  the  camp  there  was  a  continuous  tramp- 


RUNNING  BUFFALO.  229 

ling  of  hoofs,  which  Hugh  said  was  caused  by  the 
hunters  beginning  to  leave  the  camp.  Jack  hurried  to 
Pawnee  and  put  the  saddle  on  him,  and  Joe  brought 
up  the  new  horse,  naked  except  for  a  thong  knotted 
about  his  lower  jaw,  and  stood  by  its  right  side  ready 
to  mount.  When  Pawnee  was  saddled.  Jack  looked 
around  for  Hugh,  but  he  was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

"Come  on,"  said  Joe,  "  let's  go  over  to  where  the 
hunters  are  gathering  ;  Hugh  told  me  that  we  should 
go  on  and  that  he  would  join  us  there." 

"The  boys  mounted  and  galloped  to  the  end  of 
the  camp,  joined  a  throng  of  men  and  boys,  who,  pass- 
ing across  the  valle}^,  climbed  the  bluffs,  and  on  the 
upper  prairie  stopped  with  the  crowd  that  was  waiting 
there.  Most  of  the  men  were  sitting  on  the  ground 
holding  the  ropes  of  their  horses  which  fed  close 
to  them.  Out  toward  the  prairie  sat  a  line  of 
twenty  men,  and  Jack  noticed  that  no  one  passed 
these  men.  All  the  hunters  stayed  between  them  and 
the  stream. 

"  Why  don't  they  start,  Joe?"  he  said. 

"They  can't,"  said  Joe,  "  until  the  soldiers  tell  'em 
to  go.  You  see  those  men  sitting  there  on  the  out- 
side of  the  crowd,  they  are  the  soldiers,  and  everybody 
has  to  do  just  what  they  say.  If  a  man  gets  in  front 
of  them  they  drive  him  back  right  off,  and  if  he  don't 
go  when  he  is  told,  three  or  four  of  them  will  take 
their  quirts  and  give  him  a  mighty  good  licking." 

"  Wliat's  the  sense  of  that,"  said  Jack.  "  If  I  want 
to  go  ahead,  why  can't  I  ?  " 

"Well,"  said  Joe,  "you  see  if  everybody  could 
start  off  when  he  wanted  to,  and   began  to  chase  buf- 


230  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

falo,  the  first  few  men  would  scare  them,  and  they'd 
begin  to  run,  and  the  men  that  came  after  might  not 
get  any  chance  to  kill.  You  see  some  people  are  rid- 
ing fast  horses,  and  some  people  slow  ones,  and  the 
soldiers  try  to  keep  everybody  back  until  the  time 
comes  for  the  charge,  so  that  every  man  will  have 
nearly  the  same  chance." 

*'  Well,"  said   Jack,  ''  that  does  seem  fair." 

"  Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  I  expect  it  is  the  way  to  get  the 
most  meat,  and  of  course,  that's  what  we  are  trying  to 
do  ;  to  kill  all  the  food  possible.  A  good  deal  of  it 
will  be  eaten  fresh,  and  all  the  rest  will  be  dried  and 
eaten  when  the  buffalo  are  scarce." 

As  they  were  talking  thus,  a  man  came  swiftly  trot- 
ting up  to  them,  riding  a  beautiful  white  horse  with 
black  spots,  and  as  he  drew  near  them.  Jack  saw  that 
it  was  Hugh. 

'*  What  do  you  think  of  this  horse,  son  ?  "  said  Hugh. 

"  Why,  he's  a  beauty,"  said  Jack.  "  What  an  awful 
queer  colour,  but  what  a  splendid  horse  he  looks  like." 

"  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  *'  old  Last  Bull,  when  he  heard 
that  I  was  going  to  run  buffalo  to-day,  offered  me  this 
horse  to  ride.  They  say  he's  fast,  and  one  of  the  best 
buffalo  horses  in  the  tribe." 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  ''if  horses  count  for  anything, 
seems  to  me  that  we  three  ought  to  kill  a  lot  of  buf- 
falo to-day." 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "I  expect  we  ought  to,  but 
come,  let's  get  on  up  toward  the  front,  I  see  the 
soldiers  are  beginning  to  get  on  their  horses." 

Almost  as  he  spoke,  the  young  men  began  to  mount 
and  as  they  did   so,  all   the  other  hunters  sprang  on 


RUNNING  BUFFALO.  231 

their  horses  and  crowded  up  close  behind  the  line  of 
the  soldiers.  By  this  time  it  was  plain  daylight, 
though  the  sun  had  not  yet  risen.  Jack  looked  up  and 
down  the  line  of  the  hunters,  with  the  greatest  inter- 
est. To  his  surprise,  he  saw  that  almost  all  of  them 
were  naked,  and  wore  nothing  but  their  moccasins  and 
their  bow  cases  and  quivers  slung  on  their  backs. 
Here  and  there  were  men  who  rode  on  curious  sad- 
dles, which  looked  like  soft  pillows  of  buckskin,  astride 
of  which  the  man  sat,  a  little  ridge  rising  in  front  of 
and  behind  him.  Many  of  the  men  were  not  mounted, 
but  ran  along  beside  their  horses  with  an  arm  stretched 
across  the  withers  or  back  of  the  animal.  Here  and 
there  would  be  seen  two  men  mounted  on  a  single 
horse,  and  leading  two  naked  horses,  which  would 
thus  be  fresh  when  the  time  came  to  make  the  charge 
on  the  buffalo.  To  Jack's  great  surprise,  very  few  of 
the  men  carried  guns,  and  bow  and  arrow  seemed  to 
be  almost  the  universal  weapon. 

The  soldiers  had  started  on  a  brisk  trot  with  an 
even  front,  and  the  crowd  of  hunters  pressed  close  be- 
hind them.  Running  his  eye  up  and  down  over  the 
company.  Jack  tried  to  estimate  how  many  men  were 
there,  but  he  could  form  no  idea.  He  called  out  the 
question  to  Hugh,  who  was  riding  close  beside  him, 
but  Hu2:h  shook  his  head  as  if  he  didn't  know.  Little 
by  little  the  pace  increased,  and  soon  the  horses  were 
going  at  a  brisk  gallop.  Before  long,  as  they  ap- 
proached the  top  of  a  hill,  one  of  the  soldiers  who 
rode  in  the  middle  of  the  line,  raised  his  hand,  and  at 
once  the  whole  company  halted.  Two  of  the  soldiers 
then  dismounted  and  crept  up  to  the  top  of  the  ridge, 


232  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

and  after  looking  over,  returned,  mounted  again,  and 
calling  out  some  words,  all  set  forward  at  a  smart  gal- 
lop. As  they  paused  over  the  crest.  Jack  saw  before 
them,  a  wide  level  plain  on  which  were  feeding  a  great 
herd  of  buffalo.  Again  he  tried  to  estimate  how  many 
there  were,  but  he  couldn't  tell  whether  there  were  a 
thousand  or  five  thousand. 

The  mounted  men  swept  down  the  hill  at  a  good 
run,  yet  each  man  was  obliged  to  hold  in  his  horse  in 
order  to  keep  it  back  of  the  line  of  the  soldiers.  At 
first  the  buffalo  did  not  appear  to  notice  the  hunters, 
but  as  they  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  some  of  the  great 
beasts  began  to  raise  their  heads  and  look,  and  then  to 
turn  about  and  run  toward  the  herd ;  and  in  a  moment 
all  the  animals  had  taken  the  alarm,  and,  throwing 
down  their  heads  and  raising  their  tails,  were  racing 
off  over  the  prairie.  Just  before  they  started,  the 
chief  soldier  gave  a  shrill  yell,  and  at  this  signal,  each 
man  pressed  forward  as  rapidly  as  he  could.  There 
was  no  longer  order  or  discipline,  but  every  rider  did 
his  utmost  to  get  among  the  buffalo. 

At  the  signal  Jack  had  loosened  Pawnee's  reins,  and 
pressed  his  heels  against  the  horse's  side,  and  a  splen- 
did race  began.  There  were  only  half  a  dozen  men  in 
front  of  Jack,  and  before  they  had  gone  very  far,  he 
could  see  that  he  was  over-hauling  most  of  these,  but 
he  could  also  see  that  Hugh  on  his  right  and  Joe  on  his 
left  were  holding  their  own  with  him.  These  three 
horses  seemed  to  be  nearly  the  swiftest  of  all.  Little 
by  little  they  drew  up  on  the  heels  of  the  herd  and  in  a 
few  moments  were  riding  in  a  cloud  of  dust  and  flying 
gravel  thrown  up  by  the  feet  of  the  buffalo.     Through 


RUNNING  BUFFALO.  233 

this  dust  Jack  could  now  see  the  huge  forms  not 
more  than  twenty  or  thirty  yards  ahead  of  him.  He 
threw  a  cartridge  into  his  gun  to  be  ready  to  shoot, 
and  presently,  when  he  was  within  five  or  six  yards  of 
the  nearest  bull,  fired,  and  to  his  great  delight  the 
beast  fell.  As  he  loaded  his  gun  again,  he  heard  a 
shout  from  Hugh,  but  couldn't  understand  what  he 
said.  He  shot  again,  and  another  buffalo  fell  and 
then  from  out  of  the  dust  by  which  he  was  sur- 
rounded, Hugh  rode  up  close  to  him  and  called  out, 
*'  Don't  bother  with  these  bulls,  push  on  ahead  and 
kill  cows." 

This  advice  rather  dampened  Jack's  spirit,  for  he  re- 
membered now,  how  much  talk  he  had  heard  about 
killing  cows,  and  here  he  had  b.een  wasting  cartridges 
on  the  bulls,  which  as  he  had  been  told,  always 
brought  up  the  rear  of  the  herd.  He  threw  his  gun 
into  the  hollow  of  his  arm  and  spurred  Pawnee,  and 
before  long  the  bulls  had  been  left  behind,  and  he  was 
riding  across  a  part  of  the  plain  where  there  were 
scarcely  any  buffalo,  but  before  him  he  could  see  a 
dark  mass  rising  and  falling,  which  he  was  sure  must 
be  the  cows.  Hugh  had  drawn  away  from  him  and  a 
little  ahead,  and  was  now  close  on  the  heels  of  the 
herd.  Pawnee,  too,  was  rapidly  drawing  up  to  them, 
but  before  he  had  got  among  them,  Jack  heard  Hugh 
shoot  twice.  A  moment  later,  Jack  was  galloping 
along  surrounded  by  buffalo,  which  drew  away  from 
him  on  either  side  and  ahead,  but  still  were  so  close  to 
him,  that  it  made  him  feel  a  little  bit  nervous.  Over 
the  billowing  brown  backs  of  the  buffalo,  he  could  see, 
dimly,  other   riders    who    went    in    silence,  but   often 


234  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

leaned  down  from  the  backs  of  their  steeds  and  pulled 
the  bow  to  the  arrow's  head.  Jack  shot  again  and 
aeain,  but  no  buffalo  fell.  After  two  more  ineffective 
shots,  he  began  to  wonder  what  was  the  matter  ;  then 
suddenly  it  flashed  across  him  that  he  was  excited  and 
was  shooting  without  using  care  and  taking  aim.  He 
remembered  what  Hugh  had  said  about  the  impor- 
tance of  shooting  low,  and  he  realised  that  the  excite- 
ment of  the  chase  and  the  crowd  of  cows  all  about  had 
made  him  forget  the  care  that  he  should  have  exercised. 
His  next  shot  was  a  careful  one  at  a  great  cow  run- 
ning along  just  before  him,  and  swinging  her  huge 
head  from  side  to  side  ;  at  the  shot  she  went  down, 
and  so  did  the  next  one  he  shot  at  and  the  next. 
Then  Jack  noticed  that  most  of  the  buffalo  had  disap- 
peared. There  were  still  half  a  dozen  running  near 
him,  but  these  were  turning  off  in  one  direction  and 
another.  He  noticed,  too,  that  Pawnee  was  running 
more  slowly  than  he  had  been,  and  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  would  stop.  He  had  done  well  enough 
and  he  did  not  want  to  overtax  his  horse. 

As  he  drew  rein  and  Pawnee  slackened  his  pace,  at 
first  to  a  gallop  and  then  to  a  trot  and  a  walk,  he  had 
an  opportunity  to  look  about  him.  In  many  direc- 
tions, in  front  and  on  both  sides,  he  could  see  scatter- 
ing bunches  of  buffalo  climbing  the  hills  ;  some  of 
them  were  still  pursued  by  Indians,  and  looking  back 
over  the  plain  he  could  see  many  brown  dots  which  he 
supposed  were  carcasses  lying  there,  and  many  Indians 
riding  hither  and  thither  in  confusion.  A  few  buffalo 
were  to  be  seen  standing  about,  and  near  each  were 
one  or  two  riders. 


RUNNING  BUFFALO.  235 

At  a  little  distance  to  his  right  he  recognised  Hugh, 
who  was  trotting  toward  him.  When  he  came  up, 
Hugh  said  to  him,  ''  Well,  son,  you  done  pretty  well 
after  all.  You  kind  of  lost  your  nerve  one  while 
though,  didn't  you  ?  " 

*'  Why  yes,  Hugh,"  said  Jack,  "  I  did.  I  couldn't  hit 
anything.     But  where  were  you  ?     I    didn't  see  you.'* 

"  Oh  well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  wasn't  so  far  off  but  I 
could  see  what  was  going  on.  I  saw,  though,  that  you 
caught  yourself  after  a  while  and  killed  two  or  three 
cows.  I  expect  likely,  them  you  wounded  has  all  been 
killed  before  now,  but  let's  ride  back  and  see  if  we  can 
pick  out  the  buffalo  we  killed." 

They  started  back  and  Jack  pointed  out  what  he 
thouMit  were  the  three  cows  that  he  killed,  and  Hugh 
examined  the  wounds  and  said  that  Jack  was  right. 
Crossing  a  little  gully  through  which  flowed  a  tiny 
stream,  which  in  the  excitement  of  the  run,  Jack  had 
wholly  failed  to  notice,  Hugh  pointed  to  a  low  clump 
of  bushes  to  their  right,  and  said,  ''  Ride  over  and  kill 
that  cow,  son."  Jack  then  saw,  standing  among  the 
bushes,  a  buffalo  cow  evidently  wounded,  and  riding 
over  near  to  her,  was  about  to  dismount,  when  Hugh 
said,  ''  Hold  on,  shoot  from  the  saddle,  don't  never  get 
on  the  ground  near  a  wounded  cow  ;  if  she  were  to 
make  a  charge,  she  might  scare  your  horse  and  if  he 
ran  off  you  wouldn't  have  a  good  time  dodging  the 
cow."  Jack  shot  from  the  saddle  and  the  cow  fell,  and 
when  they  went  up  to  her,  they  found  that  her  pre- 
vious wound  was  made  by  a  rifle  ball,  so  that  she  was 
undoubtedly  one  of  those  that  Jack  had  shot  at. 

As  they  passed  on  over  the  plain  where  the  buffalo 


236  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

lay,  they  saw  many  men  at  work  butchering,  and  be- 
fore they  had  come  to  the  last  of  the  dead  buffalo,  a 
long  line  of  women  with  their  travois,  their  children 
and  their  dogs  had  reached  the  killing  ground,  and 
begun  the  work  of  carrying  the  meat  and  hides  to 
camp. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   WOUNDING  OF   FOX   EYE. 

The  days  passed  pleasantly  and  quickly.  Every- 
body in  the  camp  was  busy,  every  one  was  happy. 
On  the  drying  scaffolds  among  the  lodges,  hung  the 
wide  sheets  of  bright  red  meat  and  of  white  back  fat, 
which  slowly  turned  brown  in  the  dry  wind  and  under 
the  burning  sun.  And  as  this  dried  meat  was  removed 
and  packed  away,  other  fresh  meat  took  its  place,  to 
be  in  turn  removed.  All  day  long  women  were  busy 
over  hides  stretched  out  upon  the  ground,  removing 
the  flesh  and  fat  and  hair,  and  preparing  them  for 
lodge-skins.  Then  presently,  new  lodges,  fresh  and 
white  under  the  sunlight,  began  to  take  the  place  of 
those  that  age  and  use  had  turned  gray  and  brown.  The 
dogs,  which  a  few  weeks  before  had  been  gaunt,  lean 
and  hungry  looking,  were  now  fat  and  sleek.  They 
no  longer  spent  their  time  on  the  prairie  hunting  little 
birds  and  ground  squirrels,  but  gorged  with  fresh 
buffalo  meat,  lay  about  in  the  sun  and  slept,  except 
when  disturbed  by  malicious  children  who  enjoyed 
creeping  up  to  an  unsuspecting  or  sleeping  animal,  and 
beating  it  with  a  great  stick. 

From  time  to  time  the  camp  moved  a  little  way. 
Buffalo  were  plenty  everywhere.  Many  were  killed 
and  their  flesh  and  skins  brought  into  the  camp.    One 


238  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

night  after  a   chase,  as  Jack   and  Joe   were   walking 
about  through  the  camp,  a  man  and   a  little  boy  rode 
up  to  a  lodge   close  to   them.     The   man's  horse  was 
loaded  with    meat,  but   on  that  ridden  by    the    boy, 
there  was  only  a  small  pack,  wrapped  up  in  the  hide  of 
a  calf.     A  woman  took  the  ropes  of  both  horses,  but 
the  man,  instead  of  going  into  his  lodge,  turned  about 
and  called  out  a  short  speech   in    a  loud   voice.     Joe 
pulled   Jack's  arm  and  said,  ''  Let's  stop  and   watch  ; 
that's  Boss  Ribs  Hunter.     His  boy  has   just  killed  a 
calf.     It  is  the  first  time  the  Httle  fellow  ever  hunted, 
and  his  father  is  giving  away  a  horse." 
**How  do  you  mean,  Joe,"  said  Jack. 
"Why,  you    see,"  said    Joe,  "the   boy  has  killed  a 
calf  and  as  he's  only  a  little    fellow,  it's  a  pretty  big 
thing  for  him,  and  his  father  wants  to  show  how  glad 
he  is  by  making  a  present,  so  he  called  out  and  told 
Last  Coyote  to  come  and  see  what  his  boy  had  done. 
Last  Coyote  is  old  and  poor.     He  hasn't  any  relations 
and  I   don't   believe   he's  even  got  a  horse.     It  is  a 
pretty  brave  thing  of  Boss  Ribs  Hunter  to  do,  to  give 
him  a  horse,  because  he  knows  that  he  never  can  ex- 
pect Last  Coyote  to  give  him  one.     Sometimes  you 
know,  a  man  will  give  away  a  horse  to  a  rich  person, 
and  then  before  very   long,  this   rich   person  will  feel 
that  he's  either  got  to  give  a  horse  back  again,  or  some 
other   good  present.       But  when    anybody     gives   a 
present  to  a  poor  man,  it  shows  that  he  has  a  strong 
heart."     While   he  was  saying  this,  an  old   man  in  a 
very  much  worn  robe  had  come  out  of  a  lodge  not  far 
off,  and  had    walked    up    to  Boss  Ribs  Hunter.     He 
spoke  to  the  man,  pointing  first  to  his  little  boy  and 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.  239 

then  to  the  horse  with  the  small  pack  of  meat  on  it, 
and  presently,  without  a  word,  the  old  man  clambered 
onto  the  horse's  back,  and  rode  away  through  the 
camp  singing  as  he  went. 

*' Now,"  said  Joe,  "you'll  see  that  old  man  will 
ride  all  around  through  the  camp,  and  will  tell  every- 
body what  that  little  boy  has  done,  and  that  Boss 
Ribs  Hunter  gave  him  this  horse  because  he  came  to 
see  what  the  boy  had  done.  In  that  way,  everj'^body 
in  the  camp  will  come  to  know  that  the  boy  has  done 
well,  and  that  Boss  Ribs  Hunter  has  a  good  heart." 

A  few  days  after  this,  the  young  men,  who  had  been 
sent  out  to  look  for  buffalo,  reported  that  they  had 
moved,  and  that  there  were  few  now  on  the  prairie. 
The  chiefs,  therefore,  gave  orders  that  the  camp 
should  be  moved  north  to  Milk  River,  in  the  hope  that 
on  that  stream  buffalo  would  be  found.  The  morning" 
when  the  camp  moved,  Hugh  and  Fox  Eye,  with 
Jack  and  Joe,  rode  away  early  ahead  of  the  camp  and 
a  little  to  one  side  of  the  line  of  march,  to  examine 
the  country. 

The  sun  had  but  just  risen  when  they  started,  and  the 
air  was  cool  and  delightful.  The  grass  of  the  prairie, 
which  had  long  before  turned  yellow,  was  covered 
with  a  white  frost,  and  the  insects,  which  all  through 
the  summer  had  been  enjoying  life,  were  stiff  with  the 
cold  and  unable  to  move.  Near  a  great  butte,  on  the 
vertical  sides  of  which  could  be  seen  the  mud  homes 
of  many  cliff  swallows,  Jack  was  surprised  to  see  a 
great  number  of  these  birds  on  the  ground,  and  when 
he  came  to  the  place  and  they  had  flown  away,  he 
could  see   that  they    had   been   feeding  on  some  very 


240  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

small  beetles,  with  which  the  ground  was  fairly  strewn. 
From  a  shelf  on  the  side  of  this  butte,  as  they  were 
passing  along,  a  great  lanner  falcon  swooped  down  to 
the  prairie  close  before  them,  and  rose  again  with  a 
squeaking  ground  squirrel  in  his  talons,  and  when  it 
returned  to  the  shelf,  was  saluted  by  the  whistling 
cries  of  two  full-grown  young,  perched  there.  The 
time  for  singing  birds  had  passed,  and  already  the 
different  broods  of  the  little  prairie  sparrows  and  the 
white-winged  black  birds,  were  beginning  to  get  to- 
gether in  small  flocks.  But  the  meadow-larks,  more 
cheery  than  their  fellows,  still  whistled  with  mellow 
call  from  sage  brush  and  boulder  on  either  hand. 
Now  and  then  a  coyote  barked  at  the  riders  from  the 
top  of  a  near-by  hill,  and  perhaps  a  jack-rabbit  sprang 
from  the  grass  and  galloped  off,  or  a  badger  waddled 
slowly  to  one  side  and  disappeared  in  his  hole.  Hugh 
and  Fox  Eye  rode  side  by  side  ahead,  and  the  two 
boys  followed. 

As  the  men  rode  along,  they  talked,  and  this  was 
the  report  of  their  conversation,  which  Hugh  after- 
ward gave  to  Jack.  "  My  friend,"  said  Fox  Eye,  '*  I 
have  something  to  tell  you.  If  you  were  like  other 
white  men  I  should  not  say  it  to  you,  but  you  are 
like  our  own  people  and  I  can  tell  you  what  is  in  my 
mind.  This  morning  I  do  not  feel  well,  I  am  afraid. 
I  think  something  is  going  to  happen  ;  so-methingbad. 
This  is  why  I  think  so.  Last  night  my  dream  came 
to  me  while  I  was  asleep,  and  spoke  to  me  saying,  *  My 
friend,  this  day  you  will  be  in  great  danger.  It  may 
be  that  you  will  lose  your  body.  Look  out  carefully 
then,  and  try  to  see  that  nothing  bad  happens ;  for  I 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.  241 

tell  you  that  danger  is  close  to  you,  although  I  cannot 
see  what  it  is,  nor  how  it  will  come.'  After  my 
dream  had  spoken  thus,  I  awoke  and  the  woman  was 
just  beginning  to  build  the  fire.  Ever  since  then  I 
have  thought  of  this.  It  troubles  me.  This  morning 
I  could  not  eat.  I  do  not  know  what  this  means,  but 
I  know  that  something  bad  is  likely  to  happen. 

*'  Well,"  said  Hugh,  ''  I  think  that  you  ought  to  do 
just  what  your  dream  tells  you.  You  must  look  out 
carefully,  do  not  go  far  away,  nor  into  any  place  where 
enemies  may  be  hidden.  Do  not,  to-day,  run  your 
horse  even  if  they  should  chase  buffalo;  it  might  be 
that  your  horse  would  step  into  a  hole  and  throw  you 
and  hurt  you,  or  a  cow  might  catch  you  and  kill  you. 
Travel  quietly  wherever  you  go,  and  if  the  day  passes 
without  anything  happening,  then  you  may  feel  that 
by  listening  to  the  words  of  your  dream,  you  have  es- 
caped this  danger." 

"I  take  your  words,"  said  Fox  Eye,  "you  speak 
well.  But  I  should  like  to  know  what  this  danger  is, 
that  is  likely  to  come.  It  does  not  seem  as  if  it  could 
be  any  of  the  things  that  you  speak  of.  The  prairie 
is  bare  of  buffalo  ;  they  will  not  chase  them.  Our 
young  men  have  travelled  far  in  these  days,  and  no 
signs  of  enemies  have  been  seen." 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "you  can't  tell.  Often  danger 
comes  from  the  places  that  seem  least  likely,  and  of 
course,  if  enemies  should  let  us  know  they  were  com- 
ing, before  they  made  the  attack,  there  would  not  be 
much  danger  from  them." 

"  It  is  true,  it  is  true ;  "  said  Fox  Eye. 

For  some   hours  they  travelled  on  and  at    length 


242  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

climbed  a  high  butte,  from  which,  Fox  Eye  had  told 
them,  that  the  Milk  River  could  be  seen.  He  was 
right.  Far  away  to  the  northward  was  the  winding 
green  hne  where  the  sluggish  stream  flowed,  showing, 
now  and  then,  a  larger  patch  of  green,  which  marked 
the  growth  of  a  bunch  of  willows  or  other  shrubs. 
From  this  point,  too,  they  could  see  that  there  were 
here,  some  buffalo ;  not  many,  but  near  them  a  few 
scattering  bulls,  while  toward  the  river  the  black  dots 
were  thicker  on  the  prairie.  Looking  back  over  the 
country  they  had  traversed,  they  could  see,  miles 
away,  the  dark  winding  line,  which  showed  where  the 
camp  was  coming.  After  a  time  they  started  on,  and 
as  the  sun  began  to  fall  toward  the  west,  they  saw 
from  time  to  time,  quite  near  them,  a  few  bulls.  One 
of  these  was  lying  on  a  broken  hillside  not  far  from 
the  course  they  were  to  follow,  and  as  they  ap- 
proached it,  Fox  Eye  said  to  Hugh,  "  I  think  I  will 
go  and  kill  that  bull.  My  lodge  has  no  fresh  meat 
and  I  can  kill  this  animal  without  going  far.  You  go 
on,  and  I  will  kill  it  and  bring  some  of  the  meat,  and 
soon  overtake  you."  Presently  they  passed  out  of 
sight  of  the  distant  bull,  and  soon  Fox  Eye  left  them, 
and  rode  off  toward  it,  while  the  others  went  on 
their  way.  After  a  little  they  heard  a  distant  report 
of  the  gun,  and  Hugh,  turning  to  Jack,  said,  ''  Well,  I 
guess  the  old  man  got  him."  Before  they  had  gone 
very  far,  however,  they  heard  very  faintly,  two  re- 
ports, almost  together,  and  then  a  third,  and  Hugh, 
wheeling  his  horse,  shouted,  *'  Come  on,  boys,  Fox 
Eye  has  been  attacked  ; "  and  in  a  moment  all  three 
were  riding  as  hard  as  they  could,  back  toward  where 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.  243 

the  bull  had  been  seen.  The  distance  was  not  great, 
but  to.  Jack  and  Joe  it  seemed  as  if  their  horses  had 
never  gone  so  slowly.  In  a  very  few  minutes,  how- 
ever, they  crossed  a  ridge  from  which  they  could  see 
the  bull  lying  on  the  hillside,  and  near  it,  another  large 
animal,  but  nothing  was  seen  of  Fox  Eye.  A  very 
few  minutes  more  brought  them  close  to  the  bull,  and 
then  they  could  see  that  the  other  animal  was  Fox 
Eye's  horse  lying  dead,  and  a  moment  later  Fox  Eye, 
himself,  raised  his  head  from  behind  the  bull's  body. 
As  they  stopped  by  him,  he  spoke  to  Hugh  and  said, 
'*  You  see  that  the  words  of  my  dream  came  true, 
friend  ;  "  and  as  he  struggled  to  his  feet,  they  saw  that 
he  was  wounded  in  the  leg,  and  was  bleeding  badly. 

Hugh  quickly  dismounted  and  looked  at  the  wound, 
which  had  been  made  by  a  big  trade  ball  that  had 
passed  through  the  fleshy  part  of  the  thigh,  fortu- 
nately without  breaking  the  bone  or  cutting  any  im- 
portant blood  vessel. 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  *'  we  must  fix  you  up,  friend, 
you  are  bleeding  badly." 

''  Yes,"  said  Fox  Eye,  ''  I  was  surprised.  I  did  not 
listen  to  the  words  spoken  to  me  in  sleep,  and  have 
acted  foolishly,  but  first  ride  to  the  top  of  the  hill  and 
see  where  these  enemies  have  gone,  I  saw  three  of 
them  and  there  may  be  more." 

''That's  a  pretty  good  idea,"  said  Hugh,  '' scatter 
out,  boys,  and  let's  go  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  Joe, 
you  take  Fox  Eye's  gun  and  go  to  the  North  ;  son,  you 
go  to  the  South,  and  I'll  go  up  in  the  middle ;  I  guess 
those  fellows  saw  us  coming  in  plenty  of  time  and 
have  skinned  out." 


244  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

Well  spread  out,  the  three  rode  to  the  top  of  tlie 
hill  and  looked  carefully  over.  There,  a  long  way  off, 
galloping  over  the  prairie  as  hard  as  they  could  to  the 
East,  were  seen  three  horsemen.  They  were  too  far 
off  to  be  overtaken,  and  a  little  search  along  the 
hillside  showed  that  there  were  no  more  enemies 
there. 

They  returned  to  Fox  Eye,  and  as  well  as  they 
could,  with  handkerchiefs  and  with  pieces  torn  from 
their  shirts,  they  bandaged  his  wounds.  His  horse 
was  dead,  and  Joe  put  its  saddle  on  the  animal  he  had 
been  riding,  and  prepared  to  go  forward  on  foot. 

"This  is  how  it  happened,"  said  Fox  Eye,  when 
Hugh  asked  him  to  tell  the  story  of  the  attack.  "  I 
had  left  my  horse  behind  and  crept  up  close  to  the 
bull,  and  when  I  shot,  it  didn't  get  up;  it  just  died 
there.  Then  I  went  back  for  my  beast  and  bringing 
it  up  to  the  bull,  I  began  to  cut  out  some  meat.  I 
was  busy,  and  I  think  didn't  keep  a  good  look-out, 
though  every  moment  or  two,  as  I  thought,  I  looked 
about  me,  and  then  the  first  thing  I  knew  I  heard  two 
shots  and  felt  that  I  was  hurt,  and  saw  my  horse  fall. 
They  had  shot  him  for  fear  that  I  should  run  away. 
As  I  fell,  I  saw  the  three  men  running  down  to  strike 
me,  and  I  raised  myself  on  one  elbow,  and  when  they 
were  pretty  near,  I  fired,  and  the  first  man  fell.  I 
think  the  others  thought  I  had  a  double-barrel  gun, 
for  they  separated  and  ran  back  and  hid.  I  was 
charging  my  gun  as  quickly  as  I  could,  but  it  took  me 
a  long  time  to  get  the  ball  down,  then  I  quickly  crept 
in  between  the  legs  of  the  bull  and  used  its  body  for  a 
breastwork.     When  I  looked  again,  I  saw  that   the 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.         245 

man  I  had  shot  had  disappeared.  I  think  he  was  only 
wounded. 

"  I  wondered  whether  you  would  hear  the  shots  and 
come  back,  and  I  wondered  whether  the  three  men 
would  charge  on  me  again.  I  could  see  their  heads 
every  little  while,  as  they  looked  over  the  hill  and 
I  thought  that  they  would  charge  ;  but  pretty  soon 
they  started  up  the  ridge,  two  of  them  helping  the  man 
that  was  hurt,  and  then  they  disappeared,  and  soon  I 
heard  you  coming." 

While  Fox  Eye  had  been  talking,  the  other  three 
had  cutout  the  buffalo's  tongue  and  taken  the  meat 
from  his  hump,  and  had  put  it  on  Hugh's  horse. 
Hugh  and  Jack  went  back  up  the  hill  to  the  point 
where  the  man  shot  by  Fox  Eye  had  fallen.  There 
they  found  blood  on  the  grass  and  a  trail  of  blood  lead- 
ing down  a  little  sag  to  a  ravine,  where  the  man  had 
crossed.  Here  there  was  more  blood  and  moccasin 
tracks  in  the  sand,  which  led  up  the  hill.  They  returned 
to  Fox  Eye,  who  was  then  helped  into  the  saddle,  and 
Hugh  and  Jack  mounted,  and  with  Joe  on  foot,  the 
four  started  down  the  hill.  Before  they  had  gone 
very  far,  they  came  in  sight  of  the  moving  column, 
which  by  this  time  had  quite  overtaken  them. 

When  they  had  come  close  enough  to  the  camp  for  the 
people  to  get  an  idea  of  what  had  happened,  a  number 
of  men  rode  out  to  meet  them,  and  in  a  moment,  as  it 
seemed,  the  news  had  spread  through  the  marching 
column,  that  enemies  had  been  seen,  and  one  of  the 
people  wounded.  The  four  were  at  once  surrounded 
by  men,  anxious  for  the  news,  and  the  shrieks  and 
cries  of  women  who  did  not  know  how  great  the  mis- 


246  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

fortune  might  have  been,  resounded  in  their  ears. 
Thirty  or  forty  soldiers  rode  away  hotly,  to  visit  the 
scene  of  the  encounter,  and  if  possible  to  overtake  the 
enemies.  Fox  Eye  was  put  on  a  travois  and  the  vil- 
lage started  on  again  and  camped  that  night  on  Milk 
River. 

The  camp  on  Milk  River  was  a  pleasant  one, 
though  there  was  but  little  wood  for  the  fires ;  a  few 
small  box-elder  trees  and  a  good  deal  of  willow  brush 
furnished  the  only  fuel.  The  stream  rippled  pleas- 
antly over  the  rocks  which  formed  its  bed,  and  Hugh 
told  Jack  that  this  was  almost  the  only  place  on  the 
course  of  the  stream,  away  from  the  mountains,  where 
the  bottom  was  hard. 

The  next  day  the  camp  remained  here,  and  young 
men  scouted  north  of  the  river,  looking  for  buffalo. 
A  few  were  seen,  but  not  enough  to  justify  a  general 
hunt,  and  Hugh  expressed  the  opinion,  that  within  a 
day  or  two  the  camp  would  move  south  to  one  of  the 
streams  flowing  into  the  Marias  River. 

A  number  of  the  young  men,  who  had  ridden  away 
the  night  before  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  had  not  yet 
returned,  and  Jack  asked  Hugh,  during  the  morning, 
whether  he  thought  that  they  would  overtake  the  In- 
dians who  had  attacked  Fox  Eye. 

"No,"  said  Hugh,  "I  don't  reckon  they  will 
Those  Indians  had  a  big  start,  and  likely  they  saw  the 
camp  coming  and  knew  that  they  would  be  pursued, 
and  have  ridden  clean  out  of  the  country.  Of  course 
it  might  be  such  a  thing  as  the  man  that  Fox  Eye 
wounded  would  die,  and  the  other  two  might  hide 
his  body  somewhere,  but   I  don't  believe    that    these 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.  247 

young  men  that  have  followed  them,  will  see  anything 
at  all  of  the  Indians." 

"  I  would  like  to  have  gone  off  with  those  fellows," 
said  Jack. 

**Yes,"  said  Hugh,"  I  knew  you  wanted  to,  but 
there  would  have  been  no  sense  in  doing  it  ;  you'd 
just  have  had  a  long,  hard  ride,  and  maybe  broken 
down  your  horse,  all  for  nothing.  I  have  seen  young 
men  start  off  like  that  more  than  fifty  times  I  bet,  and 
they  hardly  ever  come  back  with  anything  to  show  for 
the  trouble  they've  had." 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  day,  the  soldiers  who  had 
started  off  the  afternoon  before,  began  to  come  into 
the  camp,  stringing  along  one  after  another,  on  tired, 
stumbling  ponies.  They  reported  that  nothing  had 
been  seen  of  the  enemy,  although  they  had  ridden 
hard  in  the  direction  they  had  taken,  following  the 
trail  until  after  dark. 

"There,"  said  Hugh  to  Jack,  "what  did  I  tell 
you?  You  see  they've  just  had  a  wild  goose  chase, 
and  haven't  done  anything  at  all.  Now  I'll  tell  you 
what  we'll  do.  You  and  Joe  and  me'U  go  out  this  af- 
ternoon, just  before  sundown,  and  you  and  Joe  take 
your  bows  and  arrows,  and  we'll  see  if  we  can't  kill  a 
bull." 

Some  time  before  this,  Hugh  had  traded  with  one 
of  the  young  men  of  the  camp,  for  a  number  of  ar- 
rows, and  Jack  had  been  practicing  with  the  Assina- 
boine's  bow  and  with  these  new  arrows  for  some  time, 
so  that  he  was  now  a  pretty  fair  shot.  When  he  had 
first  obtained  the  bow,  Joe  had  made  him  some  blunt- 
headed  arrows,  and  the  two  boys,  going  out  on  the 


248  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

prairie  near  the  camp,  had  practised  shooting  until 
Jack  was  fairly  skillful,  although,  of  course,  he 
could  not  approach  Joe  in  marksmanship.  His  ef- 
forts to  learn  how  to  shoot  had  been  a  source  of  great 
delight  to  the  small  boys  of  the  camp,  who  enjoyed 
following  him  about,  laughing  at  his  bad  shooting,  and 
then  exhibiting  to  him  their  own  skill. 

The  accuracy  with  which  these  little  shavers  could 
use  the  bow  was  a  constant  source  of  astonishment 
to  Jack.  They  would  watch  him  shoot  at  his  mark  a 
few  times,  hailing  each  miss  with  derisive  yells,  and 
then  some  naked  little  fellow,  not  half  his  height, 
would  rush  up  to  him,  gesticulating  and  pointing,  and 
then,  seemingly  without  effort  or  aim,  would  plant 
three  or  four  arrows  in  quick  succession,  in  the  very 
mark  that  Jack  had  been  missing. 

At  first  their  comments  and  their  company  greatly 
embarrassed  and  disconcerted  Jack,  but  he  soon  be- 
came accustomed  to  both,  and  rather  enjoyed  the  so- 
ciety of  the  noisy  little  throng. 

Jack  had  also  practised  riding  bareback,  both  on 
Pawnee  and  his  new  horse,  and  had  reached  a  point 
where,  clad  in  moccasins  and  leggings,  he  could  gal- 
lop for  half  a  day  without  feeling  undue  fatiguet 
Hugh  had  advised  him  to  begin  on  one  of  the  buffalo 
running  saddles,  used  by  some  of  the  Indians ;  a 
square  cushion  of  buckskin,  stuffed  with  buffalo  or 
antelope  hair,  but  without  stirrups.  Beginning  with 
this,  he  had  gradually  passed  on  to  riding  the  naked 
horse,  and  now  had  a  firm  grip  with  knee  and  calf,  on 
the  smooth  sides  of  his  mount. 

Toward  evening  that  day,  the  three  started  out  and 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.         249 

galloped  swiftly  up  the  river,  gradually  turning  into 
the  low  hills  on  its  south  side.  They  had  gone  only 
three  or  four  miles,  when  Hugh  held  up  his  hand  and 
bending  low  in  the  saddle,  called  their  attention  to  a 
buffalo,  whose  back  was  just  visible  over  a  near  ridge. 
"  Now,  boys,"  he  said,  "  we  can  get  up  within  fifty  or 
seventy-five  yards  of  that  fellow,  and  then  you  can  try 
him.  As  soon  as  the  bull  starts,  son,  you  want  to  put 
the  quirt  on  your  horse  and  get  up  to  him  as  quickly 
as  you  can,  then  shoot  at  him  just  as  you  would  if  you 
were  using  a  rifle,  except  that  you  want  to  ride  up 
nearly  to  his  shoulders,  before  shooting.  Let  the 
arrow  go  in  square  between  the  ribs  and  not  slant  for- 
ward. When  you  are  too  far  behind,  the  arrow  is 
likely  to  strike  a  rib  and  just  stick  in  his  hide.  I  ex- 
pect Jack  will  get  the  first  shot,"  he  added,  turning  to 
Joe,  "because  he's  got  the  best  horse,  but  I  don't  feel 
noways  certain  that  he'll  kill,  and  you  must  do  your 
best  to  get  the  buffalo,  if  he  don't." 

They  trotted  briskly  up  to  the  top  of  the  ridge,  and 
were  on  the  crest  and  within  thirty  yards  of  the  game, 
before  it  saw  them  ;  then  it  dashed  off,  but  in  a  very 
short  time.  Jack  was  close  to  the  animal's  side,  and 
drawing  the  arrow  to  its  head,  he  let  fly.  It  was  the 
first  time  he  had  shot  from  a  galloping  horse,  and  he 
did  not  allow  for  the  motion,  so  that  to  his  horror  and 
shame,  he  missed  the  buffalo  clean,  the  arrow  striking 
deep  into  the  ground  under  its  belly.  As  the  bow 
twanged,  his  horse  made  a  lurch  to  the  right  and  he 
lost  his  balance,  and  would  have  fallen  off  if  he  had  not 
caught  the  mane,  and  thus  recovered  himself.  Joe,  on 
his  slower  horse,  was  bounding  along  close  behind  the 


250  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

buffalo,  but  gaining  on  it  very  slowly,  and  Jack  turn- 
ing again,  passed  Joe  and  once  more  drew  up  beside 
the  bull.  This  time  his  luck  was  better,  the  arrow 
struck  the  beast  just  behind  the  foreleg  and  low  down. 
When  the  horse  turned,  Jack  was  ready  for  him  and  did 
not  lose  his  seat,  but  the  prick  of  the  arrow  angered  the 
buffalo,  which  turned  sharply  and  would  have  caught 
his  horse,  if  it  had  not  sheered  off  just  as  it  did. 
This  little  delay  enabled  Joe  to  come  up,  and  he 
planted  an  arrow  in  the  buffalo's  side  close  to  Jack's. 
The  animal  charged  Joe  as  he  had  Jack,  but  the  horse 
easily  avoided  him.  But  now  the  bull  was  badly 
wounded  and  angry,  and  stopped  to  fight.  Hugh  had 
come  up,  and  the  three  sat  on  their  horses,  fifteen  or 
twenty  yards  away  from  the  great  beast,  which  with 
head  down  and  tail  stuck  stiffly  up  in  the  air,  glared 
furiously  at  them  from  under  the  heavy  mat  of  brown 
hair,  which  overshadowed  its  little  eyes.  Now  and 
then  it  shook  its  head  angrily,  and  its  long  beard 
swept  the  prairie  grass  ;  but  blood  was  flowing  from 
its  mouth  and  nostrils,  and  both  Hugh  and  Joe  said  it 
would  soon  fall.  By  this  time  Jack  had  seen  plenty  of 
buffalo,  but  as  he  sat  there  and  looked  at  this  enor- 
mous beast,  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  never  beheld 
any  creature  so  terrifying. 

The  buffalo  stood  there  for  a  few  moments,  ready  to 
fight,  then  slowly  turned  as  if  to  run,  tottered  a  few 
steps  and  fell  on  its  knees. 

''  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  guess,  son,  you  and  Joe  will 
have  to  divide  that  buffalo  ;  'pears  to  me  from  the  way 
those  arrows  look,  that  you  both  killed  it." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  the  first  shot  I  made,  I  didn't 


THE  WOUNDING  OF  FOX  EYE.         251 

hit  it  at  all.  I  would  not  have  thought  I  could  shoot 
at  an  enormous  animal  like  that,  at  five  or  six  yards 
distance,  and  miss  it,  but  I  did  miss  it  clean.  I'm  go- 
ing back  after  we  have  butchered,  to  try  and  find  that 
arrow." 

The  buffalo  was  a  young  bull,  fat  and  in  good  order. 
They  took  his  tongue  and  the  meat  from  the  boss  ribs, 
and  packing  it  on  Joe's  horse,  set  out  for  the  camp 
again.  On  the  way  back  they  spent  some  little  time 
looking  for  Jack's  arrow,  which  was  finally  found, 
sticking  almost  straight  up  in  the  sand. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

A   MYSTERY   OF   THE   PRAIRIE. 

Two  or  three  days  after  Fox  Eye's  accident,  the 
camp  moved  again,  back  to  the  little  creek  near  the 
Sweet  Grass  Hills,  which  they  had  left  only  a  few  days 
before.  Here  there  were  but  few  buffalo,  and  another 
move  was  made,  still  further  south,  to  a  stream  run- 
ning into  the  Marias  River.  After  two  or  three  short 
moves  down  this  creek,  buffalo  were  again  found 
plenty,  and  several  successful  chases  were  made.  As 
the  indications  seemed  to  be  that  the  buffalo  were 
more  plenty  east  of  the  Marias,  the  camp  turned  in  that 
direction  and  moved  on  toward  the  Missouri  River. 

By  this  time,  great  stores  of  food  had  been  accumu- 
lated by  the  Indians.  In  every  lodge  were  piled  up 
parfleches  of  choice  dried  meat  and  back  fat  and 
tongues.  Many  sacks  of  pemmican  had  been  made,  and 
Jack  greatly  enjoyed  seeing  the  old  women  at  work, 
preparing  this  food.  Every  evening  there  was  feasting 
in  the  camp.  Men  invited  their  friends  to  eat  with 
them.  Young  people  held  dances,  sometimes  some  of 
the  societies  held  their  dances.  Everybody  was 
good  natured,  laughing,  happy. 

Hugh  and  Jack  were  often  invited  to  feast  by  some 
of  Hugh's  friends,  and  always  accepted  ;  and  usually 
their  hosts,  perhaps  on  the  suggestion  of  Hugh,  or 
perhaps  of  Pis'kun  Monroe,  invited  Joe  to  these  feasts, 


A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PRAIRIE.  253 

as  company  for  Jack.  So  it  was  that  Joe,  who  under 
ordinary  circumstances  would  have  been  treated  only 
as  a  boy  who  had  never  done  anything,  and  was  as  yet 
of  no  importance,  came,  through  Jack's  friendship,  to 
be  regarded  as  a  young  man  of  promise,  and  to  stand 
in  the  public  estimation,  very  high  among  the  young 
men  of  the  camp.  Joe  understood  perfectly,  why  it 
was  that  he  received  this  consideration,  and  sometimes 
used  to  talk  to  Jack  about  it,  and  to  tell  him  that  if  it 
had  not  been  for  Hugh  and  himself,  none  of  these 
honours,  that  he  was  now  receiving,  would  have  come 
to  him. 

Hugh,  Jack  and  Joe  took  part  in  all  the  buffalo 
chases  that  were  made,  and  on  one  of  these.  Jack  rode 
his  new  horse  and  carried  only  his  bow  and  arrows  and 
his  knife.  On  this  chase  he  killed  four  cows  which 
were  afterwards  identified  by  the  private  mark  which 
his  arrows  bore,  as  did  those  of  every  other  man  in  the 
camp.  In  this  chase  he  let  Joe  ride  Pawnee,  and  Joe 
killed  six  cows,  for  of  course  he  was  much  more  ac- 
customed to  the  use  of  the  bow,  than  was  Jack.  Of- 
ten during  these  days.  Jack  and  Joe  rode  out  together, 
both  bareback,  and  carrying  their  bows  and  several 
times  coming  upon  single  buffalo,  they  succeeded  in 
killing  them  and  bringing  them  into  the  camp.  Several 
times,  too,  they  came  upon  little  herds  of  buffalo 
feeding  or  lying  on  the  prairie,  in  places  where  it  was 
possible  to  creep  up  very  close  to  them,  and  Jack, 
who  by  this  time  had  killed  enough  buffalo  so  that 
the  novelty  had  worn  off,  persuaded  Joe  to  creep  up 
near  the  great  beasts,  and  to  lie  there  and  watch  them. 

This   was   an    amusement    in    which    at    first    Joe 


254  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

scarcely  sympathized.  To  him  a  buffalo  was  only  so 
much  food,  and  yet  after  they  had  done  this  once  or 
twice,  and  had  spent  hours  watching  old  cows  lying 
there,  chewing  their  cud  while  the  yellow  calves 
played  about  them,  or  at  other  times,  slowly  feeding 
along  some  little  sag  between  two  hills,  or  again, 
steadily  travelling  along  with  ponderous  tread  and 
swinging  heads  and  beards  sweeping  the  ground,  Joe 
became  as  much  interested  in  the  study  of  the  ways 
of  these  great  beasts  as  was  his  white  companion. 
Often  mingled  with  a  little  group  of  buffalo  would  be 
a  herd  of  antelope,  feeding  perfectly  at  home  with 
their  huge  companions,  and  perhaps,  if  these  started 
to  walk  in  any  direction,  keeping  along  with  them  as 
if  a  part  of  the  herd.  Once  a  group  of  buffalo  and 
antelope  passed  so  close  to  the  boys,  lying  on  the 
hilltop,  that  Jack  distinctly  saw  the  nostrils  of  the 
nearest  antelope  move  and  twitch  as  it  walked  by, 
while  the  great  bull  near  which  it  was,  looked  to  the 
boy  almost  like  a  mountain. 

One  day,  when  the  camp  was  near  the  Missouri 
River,  Jack  and  Joe  had  ridden  out.  Jack  carrying  his 
rifle  and  Joe  his  bow,  over  to  where  the  Bad  Lands 
break  away  above  the  river.  Far  below  them  they 
could  see  the  stream  winding  about  among  the  yellow 
verdureless  bluffs,  which  were  gashed  in  all  directions 
with  ravines  and  canyons,  and  showed  a  curious  ming- 
ling of  colours  of  red  and  gray  and  green  and  brown 
and  yellow.  Near  where  they  sat  on  their  horses,  a 
long  point  of  level  prairie  stretched  out  toward  the 
stream,  and  Jack  proposed  that  they  leave  their 
horses  in  the  hollow  near  where  they  were,  and  should 


A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PRAIRIE.  255 

walk  out  to  the  edge  of  the  prairie  and  look  over.  He 
wanted  to  get  as  nearly  above  the  stream  as  he  could. 
He  did  not  realise  that  several  miles  of  broken  Bad 
Lands  lay  between  the  point  of  prairie  and  the  river. 

They  walked  out  to  the  point  and  stood  there  look- 
ing down.  The  strange  scene  had  a  fascination  for 
Jack,  who  had  never  seen  Bad  Lands  on  so  great  a 
scale  as  this.  As  he  sat  there  looking  at  the  scene 
and  wondering,  Joe  rose  to  his  feet  and  walking  a  few 
yards  southwards,  looked  over  the  bluff  there,  and 
then  turning,  called  in  a  low  voice  to  Jack.  When  he 
came  up  and  followed  Joe's  glance,  he  saw  down  be- 
low them  on  the  bluff,  a  single  buffalo  slowly  working 
its  way  up  the  steep  hillside,  evidently  coming  from 
the  river  below.  The  height  of  the  bluff  was  great, 
and  the  buffalo  seemed  to  find  it  a  hard  climb.  He 
would  stick  his  toes  into  the  soil  and  scramble  half  a 
dozen  yards  and  then  stop  to  rest.  Then  he  would 
ascend  a  few  yards  more  and  again  stop. 

The  boys  lay  on  the  edge  of  the  bank  and  watched 
the  bull  slowly  clamber  toward  them,  and  at  length  it 
reached  the  prairie  only  a  few  yards  from  where  they 
were,  and  stopping  with  a  grunt,  stood  there  panting. 
They  lay  perfectly  still  and  watched  it,  both  feeling  a 
little  nervous  as  to  which  way  the  bull  might  turn. 
Joe  whispered  to  Jack,  ''Look  out,  my  friend,  do  not 
move,  lie  perfectly  still.  If  he  sees  us  he  may  rush 
upon  us  and  kill  us."  For  several  moments  they  lay 
there  and  watched,  and  at  last  the  buffalo  slowly 
moved  away  and  disappeared  over  a  low  hill.  Then 
they  sat  up,  and  Jack  said  to  Joe,  ''  Well,  I'm  mighty 
glad  he's  gone,  I  tell  you,  he  looked  to  me  big  and 


256  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

terrible.  Of  course,  I  suppose  I  might  have  killed 
him  if  he  had  turned  toward  us,  but  I  was  mighty 
glad  when  I  saw  him  go  the  other  way.  Weren't  you, 
Joe?" 

"You  bet  I  was,"  said  Joe.  *' I  was  scared.  Of 
course  if  he  had  come  toward  us  you  might  have 
killed  him,  but  I  couldn't  have  done  anything  with  my 
arrows ;  if  he  had  come  straight  at  us  I'd  have  had  to 
jump  right  over  the  side  of  the  bluff." 

''Yes,"  said  Jack,  ''I  expect  that's  all  we  could 
have  done.  I  guess  we  could  have  dodged  him  there, 
but  I'm  glad  we  didn't  have  to  try  it." 

The  boys  rose  to  their  feet  and  went  to  the  place 
where  the  buffalo  had  come  up  on  the  prairie,  and 
looking  down  over  the  almost  vertical  cliff,  they  won- 
dered how  such  a  great  and  heavy  beast  could  ever 
have  climbed  up. 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  Jack,  "  they  must  be  strong.  Just 
think  of  that  big  animal  climbing  up  the  steep  face  of 
that  bluff.  I  should  have  thought  he'd  have  fallen  over 
backward  and  rolled  down  every  time  he  tried  to  take 
a  step.     It's  wonderful." 

*'  Oh  !  "  said  Joe,  "  I  tell  you  a  buffalo  is  a  great, 
powerful  beast.  He's  strong  and  he  never  gets  tired, 
and  he's  big,  and  then  besides  all  that  he  has  got  mys- 
terious power.  Maybe  you  don't  believe  that,  but  all 
the  old  men  will  tell  you  it's  so." 

•'Well,"  said  Jack,  "I've  heard  something  about 
that  from  Hugh,  but  of  course  I  don't  know  anything 
except  wdiat  I've  been  told;  but  Hugh  says  that  all 
the  Indians  believe  the  buffalo  has  this  power." 

"  Well,"  said  Joe,  "  it's  so  ;  he  has." 


A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PRAIRIE.  257 

They  set  out  to  return  to  their  horses,  walking 
along  over  the  prairie  near  where  it  broke  off  into  the 
deep  ravines  running  toward  the  river.  As  they  were 
crossing  one  of  the  little  side  gullies  that  ran  into  one 
of  these,  Jack's  eye  was  caught  by  an  odd  sparkle  in 
the   sand   on  the  floor  of  the   ravine,   and   looking-  a 

o 

second  time,  he  saw  something  that  did  not  shine 
quite  like  a  bit  of  gravel.  He  stepped  toward  it  and 
saw  sticking  out  of  the  sand  in  the  wash,  a  bit  of  yel- 
low metal,  and  stooping  down,  pulled  from  the  soil 
what  he  took  at  first  to  be  a  used  cartridge  shell. 
In  a  moment  he  saw  that  it  was  not  this,  and  calling 
Joe  to  him,  said,  ''  What  can  this  be,  Joe.?  I  thought 
it  was  an  old  cartridge  shell,  but  it  isn't,  it  looks  like 
a  little  brass  whistle  with  the  mouth  part  gone.  You 
see  this  hole  through  the  metal  at  the  bottom,  there 
has  been  a  string  through  that  to  hold  it  by."  Joe 
looked  at  the  piece  of  metal  which  was  a  short  tube 
closed  at  one  end,  and  with  a  projection  at  that  end, 
which,  as  Jack  said,  had  a  hole  in  it  and  had  evidently 
served  to  tie  the  tube  to  something.  "  Why,"  said  he, 
*'  that's  a  powder  charger.  I  never  saw  one  made  of 
brass  before,  but  I've  seen  lots  made  of  horn  and  tin 
and  copper.  You  fill  this  charger  with  powder  from 
your  horn,  and  empty  it  into  your  gun  ;  that's  the  way 
you  measure  the  charge." 

"  Oh  yes,"  said  Jack,  "  I've  heard  of  that,  but  I 
never  saw  one  before,  but  look  here,"  he  added,  "  here 
is  something  scratched  on  it.  What  is  it  ?  "  And  he 
rubbed  the  dust  away  with  his  finger  and  polished  the 
metal  on  his  sleeve.  '*  Why!  it's'  B.  L.,'  those  must 
be  the  initials  of  the  man  who  owned  it ;  but   I  won- 


258  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

der  how  it  came  to  be  here.  I  suppose  the  man  was 
hunting  or  travelling  about,  and  the  string  broke  and 
he  lost  it,  and  then  finally  it  got  washed  into  the 
gulch  here." 

''  Yes,"  said  Joe,  "  most  likely  that  was  it." 

Jack  put  the  charger  in  his  pocket,  and  they  went 
on ;  but  hardly  had  they  come  out  of  the  gully,  when 
Joe  stopped,  and  stooping  down  took  hold  of  some- 
thing at  his  feet.  "  Hold  on,  Jack,"  he  said,  "  here  is 
something  more,**  and  turning,  Jack  saw  Joe  stooping 
over  an  old  piece  of  leather  lying  on  the  prairie.  Joe 
took  hold  of  the  the  leather  to  lift  it,  but  when  he 
pulled  at  it,  it  slipped  through  his  fingers.  "  Why,  it's 
stuck  fast,"  he  said  ;  and  taking  a  hold  of  it  again,  he 
held  it  tighter  and  pulled,  and  the  leather  began  to 
tear,  and  as  it  tore,  some  particles  that  looked  like 
yellow  gravel,  escaped  from  the  rent,  and  slipped 
down  on  the  prairie. 

"  That's  queer,"  said  Jack,  and  both  boys  went  down 
on  their  knees  beside  it.  Jack  picked  up  some  of  the 
grains  that  had  escaped,  and  looked  at  them.  They 
were  very  heavy  and  looked  like  dull  brass.  Poking 
his  fingers  through  the  rent  in  the  leather,  Joe  felt 
about  and  poked  out  a  lot  more  of  the  gravel,  while 
Jack  kept  gathering  it  up  in  his  hand  and  looking  at 
it.  Suddenly  Jack's  jaw  dropped,  and  he  looked  at 
Joe  with  wide  open  eyes,  while  a  frightened  expres- 
sion came  on  his  face.  '*  Joe,"  he  said  in  a  whisper, 
''  do  you  know,  I  believe  this  Is  gold." 

''  You're  crazy  ; "  said  Joe.  "  You  must  be  very  crazy. 
Who  would  leave  gold  lying  out  here  on  the  prairie? 
I  never  heard  of  anything  like  that." 


A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PRAIRIE.  259 

**  But,  Joe,"  said  Jack,  "  feel  how  heavy  it  is,  it  must 
be  gold.  Nobody  would  carry  brass  around  in  a  buck- 
skin package  and  leave  it  here  on  the  prairie  any  more 
than  they  would  gold.  Somebody  must  have  been 
travelling  here  and  lost  this  off  his  horse.  This  must 
be  worth  a  lot  of  money.  Now  let's  gather  it  up 
carefully  and  take  it  into  camp  and  show  it  to  Hugh, 
and  see  what  he  says.     He'll  know,  dead  sure." 

The  boys  did  not  know  how  to  get  this  on  their 
horses  without  losing  any  of  it.  Evidently  this  old 
buckskin  sack  had  lain  there  so  long,  that  it  was  rot- 
ten and  would  not  hold  together.  With  their  knives 
they  dug  carefully  about  the  sack  and  as  they  dug, 
they  found  that  it  was  in  part  buried  in  the  soil,  so 
that  there  was  more  of  it  below  the  surface  of  the 
prairie  than  above.  Jack  took  off  his  hat  and  placed  in 
it  all  the  grains  that  they  could  gather  up,  and  then 
digging  deeply  around  the  sack,  they  at  length  got 
below  it. 

"  Now,  Joe,"  said  Jack,  "  there's  only  one  thing  to  do 
that  I  can  think  of,  to  carry  this  stuff  in  the  camp. 
We've  got  to  have  something  that's  strong  and  some- 
thing that  has  no  holes  in  it,  so  that  none  of  the 
dust  can  get  out;  and  the  only  thing  of  that  kind 
that  we  have  with  us,  is  one  of  your  leggings.  Take 
off  your  leggings  and  we'll  tie  up  the  end  of  one  of 
them  and  slip  this  bag  and  the  dirt  into  the  other 
end,  and  then  tie  that  up  and  we  can  put  it  across 
a  horse." 

They  did  this,  but  it  was  not  easy  to  do.  In  the 
first  place  the  lump  of  dirt  which  held  the  sack  was 
large,  heavy  and  very  frail,  so  that  when  they  tried  to 


26o  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

lift  it,  it  looked  as  if  it  would  break  in  two.  Instead  of 
lifting  it  therefore,  they  put  the  legging  down  on  the 
ground,  and  while  they  lifted  the  lump  of  earth  little 
by  little,  they  slipped  the  side  of  the  legging  under  it, 
until  the  whole  mass  was  within  the  buckskin  covering. 
Then  they  tied  each  end  of  the  legging  firmly  with 
buckskin  strings,  and  started  to  put  it  on  the  horse. 
It  was  very  heavy.  Joe  said  it  weighed  as  much  as 
half  a  sack  of  flour,  that  is,  fifty  pounds. 

Both  boys  were  in  a  high  state  of  excitement  and 
talked  to  each  other  in  whispers,  and  kept  looking  guilt- 
ily over  their  shoulders  in  all  directions,  as  if  they  were 
committing  some  crime.  No  doubt  their  notion  was, 
that  some  one  else  might  appear  on  the  scene  and  lay 
claim  to  a  portion  of  this  treasure  that  they  had  found. 
Presently  they  mounted  and  set  out  for  the  camp, 
Jack  keeping  one  hand  behind  him  on  the  precious 
bundle  that  was  tied  behind  his  saddle,  while  Joe  rode 
with  his  horse's  head  at  Jack's  knee,  and  kept  his  eyes 
fixed  on  the  load. 

"  How  much  do  you  suppose  there  is,  Joe  ?"  said 
Jack. 

"Why,  I  don't  know,"  said  Joe;  ''must  be  a  hun- 
dred dollars  worth  of  it,  if  it's  gold." 

** A  hundred  dollars!  Pooh,  Joe,  you  don't  know 
anything,"  was  the  reply.  "You  said  it  weighed  fifty 
pounds,  and  if  it  weighs  as  much  as  that,  there  must 
be  thousands  of  dollars  worth." 

"My!"  said  Joe,  "is  there  as  much    as  that?      I 
know  what  I'll  do." 
"What?"  said  Jack. 
"  I'll    get    me   a  good   gun,"    replied   Joe,  "  that's 


A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PRAIRIE.  261 

all  I  want,  a  good  gun,  and  maybe  a  good  buffalo 
horse." 

"  Why,"  said  Jack,  "  if  that's  gold  you  can  buy 
yourself  all  the  guns  and  all  the  horses  you  want,  and 
a  lodge  for  yourself  and  still  have  plenty  left." 

''  What'll  you  do,  Jack,  with  yours  ?  "  said  Joe. 

*'Oh,I  don't  know,"  said  Jack,  "  I'd  like  to  buy  a  lot 
of  nice  furs  and  robes  to  take  home,  but  I  expect  we've 
got  trade  stuff  enough  to  buy  those  things  with,  maybe 
I'll  just  take  it  home  as  it  is.  But  hold  on,"  he  said, 
as  a  sudden  thought  struck  him.  *'  This  doesn't  be- 
long to  me  ;  this  is  yours,  you  found  it." 

*'  No  I  didn't,"  said  Joe,  "  we  both  found  it  together, 
and  anyhow  if  you  hadn't  been  along,  I'd  have  just 
left  it  there  ;  I  wouldn't  have  carried  a  lot  of  yellow 
sand  into  the  camp.  I  never  saw  anything  like  this 
before,  and  I'd  a-thought  it  was  just  some  kind  of 
queer  gravel.  We  have  been  partners  right  along,  al- 
most since  you  came  into  the  camp,  and  we've  got  to 
be  partners  now." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  we'll  see  what  Hugh  says  about 
it.  After  all  maybe  it  isn't  anything.  I've  heard  my 
uncle  talk  about  fool's  gold,  and  one  day  when  we 
were  coming  up,  I  picked  up  apiece  of  yellow  heavy 
stuff  like  this  and  asked  Hugh  what  it  was,  and  he  told 
me  some  queer  name  that  I  can't  remember,  and  then 
said  some  folks  called  it  fool's  gold,  and  he  cracked  it 
on  the  axe  and  it  broke  into  little  pieces.  It  looked 
something  like  this  stuff  we've  got  only  the  edges 
were  sharp  and  not  round  like  this,  and  it  was  bright 
and  shiny  too,  and  not  dull,  the  way  this  is." 

"  Oh,  I  hope  that  this  is  gold,  it  will  be  great." 


262  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

When  they  reached  camp,  they  unsaddled  and  care- 
fully carried  their  bundle  into  Pis'kun's  lodge.  Hugh 
was  not  there,  but  the  boys  were  too  impatient  to 
wait  for  him  long,  and  after  a  few  moments.  Jack  left 
Joe  on  guard  over  the  bundle,  while  he  started  out 
through  the  camp  to  find  Hugh.  Soon  he  came  upon 
him,  sitting  in  the  shade  of  the  lodges,  smoking  and 
talking  with  Last  Bull  and  another  old  man,  and  going 
up  to  him  with  an  air  of  much  mystery,  he  asked  him 
if  he  wouldn't  come  to  the  lodge.  Hugh  rose  and  ac- 
companied him,  looking  at  him  meanwhile,  with  an 
expression  of  amused  curiosity,  for  the  boy  was  evi- 
dently big  with  some  secret  which  he  was  anxious  to 
reveal. 

When  they  were  seated  in  the  lodge,  the  boys  began 
to  untie  their  bundle,  and  while  doing  so,  told  Hugh 
the  story  of  their  find.  As  they  talked,  his  interest 
increased,  and  before  the  contents  of  the  legging  had 
been  turned  out  into  the  pan  borrowed  from  Pis'kun's 
wife,  he  was  as  much  excited  as  the  boys  themselves. 
The  legging  was  lifted  up  and  slowly  the  mass  of  dirt 
mingled  with  yellow  grains  slipped  out  into  the  pan, 
and  the  moment  that  Hugh  saw  it  he  said,  ''  By  the 
Lord,  boys,  you've  surely  struck  it."  He  took  up  one 
of  the  larger  grains,  bit  it,  tried  it  with  his  knife  and 
then  v/hispered  im.pressively,  ''  It's  gold."  For  an 
hour  or  two  all  three  were  busy  cleaning  the  grass,  the 
soil  and  bits  of  rotten  buckskin  from  among  the  yellow 
grains,  which  half  filled  the  pan.  When  this  was 
done,  Hugh  lifted  it  from  the  ground,  and  after  weigh- 
ing it  carefully  in  his  hand,  said,  "  Boys,  there  must  be 
twenty-five  pounds  of  this  dust.     I  wouldn't    be  sur- 


A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PRAIRIE.  263 

prised  if  there  was  five  or  six  thousand  dollars  right 
here  in  that  pan." 

"  My,"  said  Jack,  "  that's  an  awful  lot  of  money." 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  "  that's  a  lot  of  money.  But 
how  did  it  get  there  ?  That's  what  I  want  to  know. 
We  will  have  to  go  there  to-morrow  and  look  the 
ground  over  right  carefully  ;  somebody  must  have 
dropped  that  sack  there,  right  on  the  prairie.  Didn't 
you  see  nothing  else  there  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Jack,  "  nothing  ;  it  was  just  lying  there 
half  covered  up  by  the  dirt  and  the  grass,  and  Joe 
walked  right  over  it  before  he  saw  it." 

''  Hold  on.  Jack,"  said  Joe,  ''  show  White  Bull  that 
powder  charger." 

*'  That's  so,"  said  Jack,  and  he  fished  the  tube  out 
of  his  pocket. 

Hugh  looked  at  it  carefully  from  all  sides  and  pon- 
dered. After  he  had  thought  a  little  while,  he  said, 
''  Look  here  boys,  this  is  queer.  I  have  seen  that 
powder  charger  before,  and  I  know  the  man  that  made 
it.  *  B.  L.,'  that's  Baptiste  Lajeunesse,  he  was  one 
of  the  old  time  trappers  and  I  was  in  Benton  when  he 
made  that  charger.  That's  gold  too.  It  was  more 
than  thirty  years  ago.  Bat  had  just  come  in  from 
the  mountains  with  a  big  lot  of  furs,  and  sold  them 
and  got  his  money,  and  had  started  out  to  have  a 
good  time.  Just  before  he  got  into  the  Post  though, 
he  had  lost  his  charger.  It  was  one,  made  him  long 
before,  out  of  a  piece  of  mountain  sheep's  horn,  by  a 
great  friend,  and  he  thought  the  world  of  it.  He  kept 
talking  all  the  time  about  that  charger,  and  when  he 
began  to  spend  his    money    and    to    drink,  he  talked 


264  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

about  it  more  and  more.  Now,  Bat  was  a  pretty  handy 
man  with  tools,  and  when  he  was  a  boy,  he  had  been 
blacksmith  at  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.,  and  that  afternoon, 
when  he  was  pretty  drunk,  as  he  was  going  along  the 
street,  he  suddenly  stopped  and  ran  into  the  black- 
smith shop  and  took  a  hammer  and  fished  a  twenty 
dollar  gold  piece  out  of  his  pocket,  and  began  to  ham- 
mer it  out  on  the  anvil,  and  before  any  of  us  knew 
what  he  was  after,  he  had  made  himself  this  charger 
and  scratched  his  initials  on  it,  and  tied  it  with  a  string 
to  his  shirt  in  front,  where  he  used  to  carry  his  old 
charger  when  he  was  in  town.  A  few  days  after  that, 
after  Bat  had  spent  all  his  money,  he  started  off  again 
into  the  mountains,  and  I  have  never  seen  him  from 
that  day  to  this. 

"  Now  it  would  be  mighty  curious,"  the  old  man 
went  on,  '*  if  there  was  any  connection  between  that 
charger  and  this  sack  of  dust.  I  don't  see  how  there 
could  be,  and  I  don't  see  how  we  are  likely  to  find  out 
anything  about  it ;  but  anyhow,  we'll  go  back  there 
to-morrow  and  see." 

Hugh  covered  the  pan  of  gold  with  some  robes,  and 
told  Jack  and  Joe  to  remain  in  the  lodge  while  he 
went  out.  Half  an  hour  later,  he  returned  with  a 
heavy  double  sack  of  buckskin  into  which  the  gold 
was  poured,  and  this  sack  was  put  in  a  partly  empty 
sack  of  flour,  the  flour  being  packed  around  the  gold 
and  on  top  of  it,  so  that  there  seemed  to  be  nothing 
but  flour  in  the  sack,  which  was  then  placed  under  the 
other  property  belonging  to  Hugh  and  Jack,  between 
their  beds. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE   RELIC   OF   A   FIGHT. 

The  next  morning  the  three  started  back  to  the 
place  where  the  boys  had  found  the  gold.  On  their 
way  there,  Jack  explained  to  Hugh  in  greater  detail, 
that  the  dust  had  really  been  discovered  by  Joe,  and 
asked  him  to  whom,  in  his  opinion,  it  belonged. 

*'  Why,"  said  Hugh,  "  you  two  boys  are  just  like  a 
couple  of  fellows  that  start  out  to  prospect.  You  are 
partners,  and  whatever  either  partner  finds,  belongs  to 
both,  share  and  share  alike.  It  would  have  been  the 
same  if  you  had  found  it  instead  of  Joe,  half  of  it  would 
have  belonged  to  him.  Now  here  I'm  going  out  with 
you  this  morning,  if  any  of  us  would  find  anything  to- 
day, I  oughtn't  to  have  as  big  a  share  of  it  as  either 
of  you  two,  because  you  found  the  place  and  are  tak- 
ing me  there  and  showing  it  to  me.  I  am  more  like  a 
man  that  you  have  hired  to  work  on  your  claim  and 
so  I  only  get  what  you  choose  to  give  me.  You  and 
Joe  are  the  bosses,  I'm  the  hired  man." 

''Seems  to  me,"  said  Joe,  "  that  White  Bull  ought 
to  share  in  what  we  found  yesterday.  Because  you 
see  Jack  and  me  didn't  know  what  we'd  found  and  we 
had  to  take  it  to  somebody  and  ask,  and  maybe  if  we 
had  taken  it  to  some  one  else,  he'd  have  cheated  us 
out  of  it  all,  so  I  think  we  ought  to  divide  that  gold 
into  three  parts,  and  all  three  share  it." 


266  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"Why,  yes,"  said  Jack,  ''  that's  the  best  yet." 

"No,"  said  Hugh,  "  I  guess  we  won't  do  that,  you 
boys  will  have  to  keep  your  gold,  and  if  we  find  any 
more  to-day,  why,  maybe  I'll  get  a  chance  at  it,  but 
what  you  found  is  yours  and  nobody  else's." 

"Well,  but  say,  White  Bull,  you  know  we've  got  to 
be  asking  questions  all  the  time  and  got  to  be  told 
what  to  do  with  the  dust,  for  neither  of  us  know 
enough  to  get  along  without  help.  I  think  you  ought 
to  take  your  share." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Jack,  "  and  I  vote  that  unless  Hugh 
comes  in  as  a  partner,  you  and  I  say  we  won't  take 
any  of  this  gold." 

"Well,  well,"  said  Hugh,  "  we  ain't  got  no  chance 
to  spend  that  money  now,  and  we  needn't  decide 
right  off  about  this.  We  can't  do  nothing  with  it 
until  we  get  into  the  settlements,  but  when  we  get 
there,  we  better  get  paper  for  it,  unless  Joe  would 
rather  have  the  coin. 

"  Speaking  of  coin,"  he  went  on.  "  Did  I  ever  tell 
you  that  story  about  Young  Dog's  father?" 

"  No.     What  was  that,  Hugh  ?  "  asked  Jack. 

"Why,"  said  Hugh,  "a  good  many  years,  I  don't 
know  how  long,  nor  just  where  it  was.  Young  Dog's 
father  and  some  of  his  young  men  were  off  on  the  war 
path,  and  they  came  across  a  few  white  men  travelling 
over  the  prairie,  and  they  fought  them  for  two  or 
three  days,  and  in  the  end  they  killed  the  last  one  of 
them  and  captured  all  their  stock.  They  got  a  few 
horses  and  two  or  three  mules,  and  of  course  some 
food  and  a  little  clothes  and  the  men's  arms.  But 
one  of  the  mules  was  loaded  with  four  wooden  boxes, 


THE  RELIC  OF  A  FIGHT.  267 

almighty  heavy  by  what  they  tell.  They  couldn't 
get  into  them  but  they  broke  one  of  them  open  with  an 
axe,  and  saw  that  the  box  was  full  of  yellow  buttons, 
and  after  breaking  open  each  one  of  the  boxes,  they 
saw  that  each  one  had  nothing  in  it  but  these  same 
yellow  buttons.  But  the  queer  thing  about  these 
buttons  was,  that  none  of  them  had  eyes  on  to  fasten 
them  to  the  coat  with.  So  they  see  they  could  not  be 
used,  and  just  emptied  them  out  on  the  prairie  and 
just  left  them  there.     Queer,  wasn't  it  ?  " 

Hugh  cut  tobacco,  filled  his  pipe,  lighted  it  and 
rode  on,  while  the  boys  waited  for  him  to  finish  his 
story.  After  a  while,  as  he  said  nothing,  Jack  said, 
"  Well,  what  happened  then,  Hugh?  " 

*'When?"  said  Hugh. 

'*  Why,  after  they  went  off." 

"Oh,  nothing  happened,"  said  Hugh,  ''they  just 
went  off,  and  after  a  while  they  got  back  to  the 
village." 

"Well,  but,"  said  Jack,  "is  that  all  of  the  story?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Hugh,  ''that's  the  end." 

"  Well,"  said  Jack,  "  I  don't  see  anything  queer  about 
that." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  "you  see,  them  buttons  was 
ten  dollar  gold  pieces." 

"Oh!"  said  Jack. 

"  I  often  tried,"  said  Hugh,  "to  find  out  just  where 
it  was  that  those  four  boxes  of  gold  were  left,  but  I 
never  managed  to  find  out." 

By  this  time  they  were  almost  at  the  point  where 
they  had  left  their  horses  the  day  before,  and  before 
long  the  three  were  standing  about  the   place  from 


268  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

which  the  sack  of  gold  had  been  unearthed.  Hugh 
sifted  the  loose  soil  at  the  bottom  of  the  hole  through 
his  fingers  and  discovered  a  few  small  nuggets  that 
had  escaped  the  boys,  and  then  they  made  a  careful 
search  of  the  prairie  near  at  hand.  Nothing  was  dis- 
covered, and  at  length,  Hugh  told  the  boys  to  mount 
their  horses  and  the  three  spread  out  riding  back  over 
the  prairie,  looking  carefully  over  it  and  into  all  the 
ravines,  to  see  if  signs  of  any  sort  could  be  seen. 

The  search  was  fruitless,  and  at  length,  from  the  top 
of  a  high  knoll,  Hugh  rode  his  horse  in  a  circle  to  call 
the  boys  to  him.  They  came  galloping  toward  him 
from  either  hand,  but  suddenly,  Joe,  who  had  disap- 
peared behind  a  ridge,  rode  up  onto  it  and  in  his 
turn  rode  in  a  circle,  and  Hugh  and  Jack  went  toward 
him.  When  they  reached  the  ridge,  he  had  ridden 
down  again  into  the  hollow  and  was  standing  at  the 
edge  of  a  little  green  place,  and  when  they  got  to  him, 
they  saw  before  him,  the  skeleton  of  a  horse,  which 
had  long  been  dead.  Hugh  looked  at  it  carefully  and 
then  said,  ''  Mule."  Fragments  of  wood,  lying  by  the 
animal's  back-bone,  were  evidently  the  remains  of  a 
pack  saddle,  but  nothing  else  was  seen. 

Hugh  stood  for  a  long  time,  looking  at  the  skeleton, 
parts  of  which  were  scattered  over  quite  a  little  area, 
showing  where  the  wolves  had  pulled  the  bones  about. 
Suddenly  Hugh  bent  forward,  and  working  his  fingers 
in  the  grass  near  the  animal's  back-bone,  drew  forth  a 
slender  fragment  of  wood,  which  he  held  up  before  the 
boys'  eyes.  It  was  a  part  of  an  arrow,  though  the 
bent  gray  wood  seemed  little  like  the  straight,  clean 
shaft  that  they  were  accustomed  to  use.     But  by  look- 


THE  RELIC  OF  A  FIGHT.  269 

ing  closely,  they  could  see  the  gi'ooves,  and  a  little 
search  in  the  soil  and  among  the  grass  brought  to 
light  another  piece  of  the  shaft  and  a  rusted  sheet 
iron  head  long  since  separated  from  the  wood. 

For  a  long  time,  Hugh  stood  staring  at  the  bones  of 
the  animal  before  him,  and  then  walking  away  a  few 
steps,  he  sat  down  on  the  ground  and  filled  his  pipe 
and  began  to  smoke.  He  said  nothing,  but  kept  his 
eyes  fixed  on  the  ground  as  if  he  expected  to  see, 
written  there,  something  which  would  be  an  answer  to 
his  unspoken  thoughts.  The  boys  had  thrown  them- 
selves on  the  grass  by  his  side,  and  were  watching  him 
and  waiting  patiently,  while  the  three  horses  fed 
about  close  at  hand. 

At  length  the  pipe  was  smoked  out,  and  Hugh 
raised  his  eyes  and  looked  at  the  boys,  as  if  he  had 
just  discovered  that  they  were  near  him.  Then  his 
face  twisted  up  into  a  kindly  smile,  and  he  said,  ''  Well, 
boys,  what  do  you  make  of  it  ?  " 

"I  don't  make  anything  of  it,  Hugh.  What  is  it?  " 
said  Jack. 

"Maybe  there's  been  fighting  here,"  said  Joe. 

*'  That's  right,  my  son,"  said  Hugh,  *'  that  mule  was 
killed  by  the  arrow  that  we  found,  that's  sure.  I  ex- 
pect you  both  took  notice  that  that  arrow  was  broken 
about  the  same  time  it  was  shot,  likely  it  broke  when 
the  mule  fell.  What  I  want  to  find  out  is,  who  did 
the  fighting,  and  whether  the  man  that  lost  the  mule 
was  the  man  that  lost  the  gold,  and  where  that  man  is 
now.  I  expect  we've  got  to  do  a  little  climbing  and 
do  some  more  hunting.  This  is  the  way  I  figure  it  as 
far  as  we've  got :     Somebody  was  jumped  by  Indians 


2/0  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

out  here  on  the  prairie,  and  made  a  run  for  the  river. 
He  had  a  pack  animal  and  tried  to  keep  it  with  him 
as  long  as  he  could,  but  the  Indians  caught  up 
to  him  and  shot  at  him  and  wounded  the  ani- 
mal, and  he  had  to  let  it  go.  I  reckon  he  had  the 
dust  with  him  on  his  saddle,  or  else  tied  to  his 
body  somewhere,  and  just  before  he  got  to  the  edge 
of  the  bluffs,  he  dropped  it.  Maybe  it  was  shot 
away.  Then  he  went  over  the  bluffs  to  hide  or  fight 
in  the  Bad  Lands.  Now  I  reckon,  the  best  thing  we 
can  do,  is  to  go  back  to  where  you  found  the  gold  and 
then  go  down  into  them  breaks  and  see  if  we  can  find 
there,  any  sign  of  where  a  man  got  killed.  All  this 
happened  a  good  many  years  ago,  as  you  can  see  from 
that  skeleton  over  there  and  the  arrow  that's  in  it,  and 
we  won't  find  any  signs  at  all  unless  the  man  dropped 
something  else.  Maybe  his  horse  might  have  been 
wounded  and  he  had  to  leave  that  and  it  died,  and 
maybe  he  himself  got  killed.  Anyhow,  we'll  climb 
down  there  if  you  like,  and  take  the  natural  way  to 
the  river  and  go  a  little  ways.  I  don't  reckon  we'll 
find  nothing,  but  might  be  such  a  thing  as  we   would." 

They  mounted  and  rode  back  the  way  they  had 
come,  and  then  Hugh  and  Joe  climbed  down  the 
bluffs,  for  Hugh  said  to  Jack,  "  I  want  you  to  stop 
here,  son,  and  look  after  these  horses.  It  ain't  noways 
likely  nothing  would  happen  to  them,  but  it  ain't 
good  to  leave  your  horses  alone  on  the  prairie  without 
some  one  to  look  after  them." 

Jack  sat  for  a  long  time,  holding  the  ropes  of  the 
three  horses  and  at  length,  as  the  sun  sank  lower  and 
lower  toward  the  west,  he  began  to  wonder  whether 


THE  RELIC  OF  A  FIGHT.  271 

anything  had  happened.  At  length,  however,  he 
heard  a  sound  of  rolling  stones  below  him,  and  soon 
Hugh  came  in  sight,  followed  by  Joe.  They  were  a 
long  way  off  and  could  not  be  seen  very  distinctly,  and 
every  now  and  then  they  disappeared  in  some  ravine 
or  behind  some  point  of  bluff.  But  Jack  thought  that 
Hugh  walked  queerl}-,  and  with  his  head  bowed  for- 
ward. At  length  they  came  in  sight  again,  and  for  a 
little  while  were  in  plain  view,  and  then  Jack 
could  see  that  Hugh  was  carrying  some  burden  on  his 
shoulders.  As  they  climbed  the  last  steep  ascent,  he 
could  see  that  this  was  a  young  mountain  sheep,  and 
as  he  had  heard  no  shot  fired,  he  felt  sure  that  Joe 
must  have  killed  it. 

So  it  proved.  Hugh  and  Joe  had  searched  a  num- 
ber of  the  ravines  without  seeing  anything,  and  had 
turned  back  to  climb  the  hills,  when  suddenly  they 
came  upon  an  old  ewe  and  her  lamb,  and  Joe's  ready 
arrow  had  killed  the  little  sheep. 

"  Well,  son,"  said  Hugh,"  we  didn't  find  any  sign  of 
that  man,  but  your  partner  here  made  a  mighty  good 
shot  with  his  arrow  and  we  brought  a  little  piece  of 
meat  along  anyhow." 

"  Yes,"  said  Jack,  "  when  I  saw  you  killed  some- 
thing, I  knew  it  must  be  Joe  for  I  hadn't  heard  any 
shot.  Seems  to  me,  Joe,  you're  pretty  lucky  with 
sheep." 

"Yes,"  said  Joe,  "pretty  lucky  this  time  sure. 
I  just  had  to  fire  quick,  but  I  happened  to  hit  him 
just  in  the  right  place." 

"Well,  boys,"  said  Hugh,  "let's  tie  this  on  behind 
the  saddle  and  be  moving,  it's  getting  late  and    I've 


2/2  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

got    a   pretty   good    hunger    on.      I  want  to  get    to 
camp." 

Before  long  they  were  riding  swiftly  over  the  prairie, 
and  though  the  sun  had  set,  it  was  not  yet  dark  when 
they  reached  the  circle  of  the  lodges. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CLOSE   QUARTERS    WITH   A   BEAR. 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  the  camp  moved  east- 
ward, and  stopped  near  the  west  end  of  the  little 
group  of  mountains  which  rise  out  of  the  rolling 
prairie,  and  which,  Hugh  told  Jack,  were  known  to 
to  the  Indians  as  Bear's  Hand.  The  summer  was 
ended  now  and  the  nights  were  cool.  From  the  little 
prairie  lakes  and  the  infrequent  streams,  the  travellers 
often  started  flocks  of  ducks,  and  at  night  and  in  the 
early  morning,  the  fine  thin  music  caused  by  the 
swiftly  beating  wings  of  migrating  water  fowl,  reached 
their  ears.  Once  or  twice,  Hugh  had  said  to  Jack, 
''  Well,  son,  before  long,  we've  got  to  be  jogging.  I 
reckon  the  best  way  for  you  to  get  home,  and  maybe 
for  me  too,  is  to  take  a  boat  down  the  Missouri  River, 
if  we  can  get  one,  until  we  strike  a  railroad,  and  then 
you  can  go  East  and  I'll  go  West." 

''  But,  Hugh,  what  can  we  do  with  the  horses  ? 
I  don't  want  to  leave  Pawnee  up  here  in  the  Indian 
camp,  nor  the  new  horse,  and  we  can't  take  them  with 
us  on  the  boat,  can  we  ?  " 

''Well,  I  don't  know,"  said  Hugh,  "we'll  have  to 
find  out  about  that.  I  reckon,  unless  they're  pretty 
heavy  loaded,  they  can  find  room  for  half  a  dozen  ani- 


2/4  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

mals,  and  the  way  things  look  now,  we've  got  money 
enough  to  pay  their  passage.  Anyhow,  it's  a  different 
thing  travelling  over  the  prairie  now,  from  what  it 
was  when  we  came  up  here.  There's  more  danger,  and 
I've  been  thinking  we  ought  to  cross  over  to  Helena 
and  go  south  from  there  through  the  mountains,  and 
try  to  keep  in  the  settlements  all  the  way.  I  heard 
tell  last  winter,  that  they  were  building  a  railroad  from 
Salt  Lake  City  up  north  to  Helena,  or  somewhere 
near  there,  and  if  we  could  strike  that,  it  would  save  us 
a  heap  of  time.  Anyway,  I  don't  intend  to  go  South 
over  the  prairie,  the  way  we  came ;  that  country,  now, 
is  likely  full  of  Indians  and  we  might  get  jumped 
'most  any  time.  We'll  have  to  wait  till  we  get  to  Ben- 
ton, to  find  out  how  things  are,  and  I  reckon,  pretty 
quick,  we've  got  to  pack  up  and  go  in  there.  I  think 
the  camp  is  likely  to  move  up  on  the  Marias  before 
long,  and  I'd  rather  stay  with  them  than  ride  off  alone 
vvith  you." 

Since  they  had  found  it,  their  gold  had  caused 
Hugh  and  Jack  much  anxiety.  The  sack  which  con- 
tained it,  though  apparently  full  of  flour  was  very  much 
heavier  than  any  of  the  other  sacks  of  flour,  and  the 
difference  in  weight  would  have  caused  any  one  who 
handled  it,  to  wonder  what  it  contained.  They  were 
careful,  therefore,  ahvays  to  pack  their  own  horses, 
and  to  leave  an  open  sack  of  flour  among  their  things, 
in  order  that,  if  John  Monroe's  wife  wished  to  use  any, 
she  would  go  to  that,  rather  than  open  a  fresh  sack.  So 
far,  no  one  had  any  suspicion  of  the  existence  of  the 
gold  in  the  camp,  and  Hugh  was  anxious  that  no  one 
should  know  of  it,  because  there  were   several   white 


CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  A  BEAR.      275 

men  living  with  the  Indians,  about  whom  he    knew 
very  Httle. 

It  was  now  September.  Jack  had  been  in  the  camp 
more  than  two  months,  and  besides  the  old  men  that 
he  had  come  to  know,  he  had  also  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  a  number  of  young  fellows  of  about  his  own 
age.  From  Joe  and  Hugh,  he  had  learned  a  few 
words  of  Piegan,  so  that,  often,  he  could  understand 
what  people  were  talking  about,  and  sometimes  mus- 
tered up  courage  to  speak  a  few  words  himself. 

One  day,  not  long  after  his  conversation  with  Hugh 
about  returning  home,  the  news  was  called  out 
through  the  camp,  that  in  three  days  the  village  would 
move  over  to  Willow  Rounds,  on  the  Marias  River,  and 
would  stay  there  a  long  time.  When  he  heard  this, 
Hugh  told  Jack  that  he  thought  it  best,  that  from 
there,  they  should  go  into  Benton  and  try  to  go  down 
the  river. 

That  evening  Joe  came  to  the  lodge  and  proposed 
that  the  next  day  they  should  go  up  into  the  Bear 
Paw  Mountains,  to  hunt  deer.  ''Three  others  are  go- 
ing," he  said,  "  Bull  Calf,  The  Mink  and  Handsome 
Face.  We  ought  to  go  early  and  I  think  we  can 
kill  some  deer." 

"  All  right,  Joe,"  said  Jack,  "  Til  go,  and  be  ready 
to  start  any  time  you  say." 

''Well,  then,"  said  Joe,  "let's  go  by  the  time  the 
sun  rises." 

Bright  and  early  next  morning,  the  party  started 
and  rode  up  the  mountain.  It  was  not  very  long  be- 
fore they  reached  the  pine  timber,  and  soon  after,  they 
separated  into  two  parties.  Bull  Calf  and  The  Mink 


276  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

going  off  on  the  south  side  of  the  hills,  while  Jack 
and  Joe  and  Handsome  Face  kept  up  on  the  western 
slope. 

After  riding  through  the  timber  for  quite  a  long 
time,  they  came  to  some  little  parks,  quite  surrounded 
by  timber,  with  pretty  little  streams  flowing  through 
them,  making,  as  Jack  thought,  the  best  possible 
feeding  grounds  for  deer.  After  they  had  passed 
through  several  of  these  without  seeing  any  game,  but 
finding  plenty  of  tracks  and  old  sign,  Joe,  who  was  a 
little  ahead,  stopped  his  horse,  raised  his  hand  as  a 
sign  for  the  others  to  wait,  and  slipped  off  on  foot 
through  the  trees.  In  a  very  few  moments,  he  had  re- 
turned, and  signing  them  to  dismount  and  follow  him, 
he  led  the  way  through  the  silent  timber.  All  the 
boys  wore  moccasins,  and  treading  with  hunter's  care, 
went  along  like  so  many  ghosts.  No  twig  snapped 
under  their  feet,  nor  did  they  allow  the  branches  or 
bushes  to  scrape  against  their  legs.  After  a  few  mo- 
ments quick  walk,  Joe  turned,  and  making  a  sign  for 
caution,  dropped  to  his  knees  and  crept  through  the 
low  bushes  to  the  edge  of  a  little  park.  There,  as  they 
peered  through  the  leaves,  they  saw  a  pretty  sight. 
Three  yearling  deer  were  feeding  slowly  toward  them, 
and  were  now  not  more  than  fifty  yards  away.  They 
acted  as  if  they  had  finished  their  breakfast,  and  did 
not  seem  hungry,  but  rather  as  if  they  were  looking 
for  a  place  to  lie  down.  They  would  walk  along  for  a 
few  steps,  and  then  one  stopping,  would  nibble  at  the 
grass,  while  the  others  kept  on,  and  then,  perhaps  one 
of  these  would  stop  and  be  passed  by  the  other  two. 
In    this   careless    fashion,    they    came    up    to   within 


CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  A  BEAR.      277 

twenty-five  or  thirty  yards  of  where  the  boys  knelt, 
and  then  one  of  them  suddenly  folded  his  long,  slen- 
der legs  under  him  and  lay  down.  The  others  stood 
by  him,  one  broadside  to  the  watchers,  the  other  head 
on.  Joe  signed  to  Handsome  Face,  and  then  the  two 
boys  with  arrows  on  the  string,  rose  to  their  knees, 
and  shot  together.  Each  of  the  two  deer  sprang  high 
in  the  air,  and  coming  down,  looked  about  with  raised 
head  and  alert  ears.  The  deer  that  was  lying  down, 
stretched  his  head  up  high  and  looked  at  them,  and 
then  about  it,  but  did  not  spring  to  its  feet.  The  boys 
could  see  in  each  of  the  two  standing  deer,  the  arrows 
buried  nearly  to  the  feathers.  In  a  moment,  the  deer 
at  which  Handsome  Face  had  shot,  fell  on  the  ground, 
and  Joe's  deer  immediately  afterward  lay  down. 

Jack  whispered  to  Joe,  "  Shall  I  kill  the  other?" 

*'Yes,"  said  Joe,  "kill  him,  sure."  Jack  took 
steady  aim  at  the  slender  neck  showing  above  the 
grass,  and  fired,  and  the  deer's  head  disappeared. 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  as  the  boys  rose  to  their  feet, 
and  walked  out  toward  the  animals,  "  that  seems  to 
me  like  butchering.  Of  course  we  can  use  the  meat, 
and  we  need  the  hides,  but  I  don't  think  there's  much 
fun  in  killing  game  that's  as  tame  as  that." 

"  Pooh,"  said  Joe,  "if  they'd  heard  us,  or  smelt  us, 
you  wouldn't  think  they  were  tame  ;  they'd  have  run 
off  mighty  fast,  and  we  fellows  that  have  arrows 
wouldn't  have  got  a  shot  at  them  at  all." 

While  Joe  and  Jack  were  butchering,  Handsome 
Face  went  off  into  the  timber,  and  soon  returned  with 
their  horses.  The  deer  were  loaded  on  the  animals, 
and  they  started  to  return  to  camp. 


2/8  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

After  they  had  begun  to  descend  the  mountain, 
they  passed  into  a  long,  sloping  valley,  and  here,  as 
they  were  riding  along,  Jack  discovered  that  the 
ground  was  covered  with  low  huckleberry  bushes, 
abundantly  loaded  with  fruit.  A  halt  was  called,  and 
the  boys  dismounted,  and  for  half  an  hour  were  busily 
engaged  picking  and  eating  the  delicious  berries. 
While  they  were  doing  this,  the  sky  clouded  over  and 
it  began  to  rain  a  little.  They  mounted  again  and 
kept  on  down  the  hill,  and  presently,  riding  up  onto  a 
long-hog  back,  stopped  there  to  look  off  to  the  south- 
ward and  see  whether  they  could  discover  their  com- 
panions. To  the  south  of  this  ridge  was  another  valley, 
similar  to  the  one  that  they  had  been  going  down. 
By  this  time  the  rain  had  stopped,  but  the  sky  was 
still  overcast.  The  boys  lay  there  on  the  ground, 
talking  and  waiting ;  suddenly  Handsome  Face 
stretched  out  his  hand  and  touching  Jack's  arm,  said, 
''  Aamo,  Aamo,  KyiyuJ' — look,  look,  bears.  The  boys 
turned  their  heads  in  the  direction  that  he  was  look- 
ing, and  saw,  far  off  in  the  valley  to  the  south  of  them, 
three  bears  that  had  just  come  in  sight  from  behind  a 
little  ridge.  One  was  large  and  two  small,  and  they 
were  walking  about  in  an  aimless  way  that  Jack  did 
not  understand. 

"  What  are  they  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Bears,"  said  Joe  ;  "  old  one  and  two  cubs,  pickin' 
berries."  Jack  realised  now,  that  the  bears  as  they 
walked  here  and  there,  and  stuck  out  their  noses,  were 
gathering  huckleberries,  just  as  he  had  been  doing  a 
little  while  before. 

''  How'll  we  get  them,  Joe?  "  he  asked. 


CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  A  BEAR.      279 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Joe.  "Got  to  wait."  Then 
he  spoke  some  words  to  Handsome  face,  who  answered 
him,  and  Joe  went  on  speaking  to  Jack  :  "  Handsome 
Face  says,  wait  a  little  while  and  they'll  go  behind  a 
hill  and  then  we  can  get  on  our  horses  and  ride  down 
there  and  run  them." 

The  boys  lay  there,  a  good  deal  excited,  not  daring 
to  move,  and  fearing  constantly  that  the  old  bear 
would  see  the  horses  and  run  away.  But  if  she  saw 
them,  she  must  have  thought  they  were  buffalo,  for 
she  paid  no  heed  to  them,  but  went  on  with  the  young 
ones,  picking  berries. 

At  length,  both  the  smaller  bears  passed  out  of 
sight,  and  then  a  little  later,  the  old  one.  The  boys 
crept  on  all  fours  to  their  horses,  untied  the  deer  and 
threw  them  to  the  ground.  Jack  tightened  his  saddle 
girths,  and  all  three  mounting  passed  down  the  hill 
towards  the  bears. 

As  they  descended  into  the  valley,  the  ridges,  which 
from  the  height  had  seemed  so  low,  began  to  appear 
higher,  and  to  assume  the  proportions  of  quite  respec- 
table hills.  Jack  thought  that  he  had  marked  the  place 
where  the  bears  disappeared,  with  some  care,  but  be- 
fore long,  made  up  his  mhid  that  he  had  quite  lost  it. 
Joe  and  Handsome  Face,  however,  rode  steadily  for- 
ward, as  if  they  knew  just  where  the  place  was,  as  of 
course  they  did.  The  advance  was  brisk,  yet  the  boys 
did  not  gallop,  and  went  as  carefully  as  possible. 
Pretty  soon.  Jack  could  see  that  they  must  be  getting 
near  the  place,  for  the  boys  used  still  greater  caution, 
and  at  length,  Joe  stopped,  slipped  off  his  horse  and 
went  ahead  on  foot,  while  Handsome  Face  and  Jack 


28o  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

remained  behind.  When  Joe  looked  over  the  ridge, 
he  saw  nothing,  and  remounting,  they  passed  on  to 
the  next  one,  where  he  took  another  look.  Coming 
back  very  cautiously,  he  whispered:  "They  are  just 
over  the  ridge  ;  we  can  rush  on  them  from  there." 
From  the  top  of  the  ridge  they  could  see  the  three 
bears,  unsuspicious  as  yet,  and  no  more  than  fifty 
yards  away,  and  as  soon  as  they  saw  them,  the  three 
dashed  forward  at  top  speed. 

Jack  expected  that  Pawnee  would  be  able  to  run 
away  from  the  other  horses,  and  he  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  would  try  for  the  old  bear ;  but  he  found  that 
the  horse  that  Handsome  Face  was  riding,  was  as 
swift  as  Pawnee,  and  the  two  kept  along  about  even, 
both  trying  to  overtake  the  mother.  It  was  a  race  as 
well  as  a  chase.  At  first  the  way  was  down  hill  and 
there,  they  did  not  in  the  least  gain  on  the  bear,  but 
in  a  moment  she  began  to  climb  the  hill,  and  then  they 
closed  up  on  her  rapidly.  Handsome  Face  had  his 
bow  strung  and  a  sheaf  of  arrows  in  his  hand,  and  was 
making  ready  to  let  fly.  It  was  impossible  for  Jack  to 
shoot,  as  Handsome  Face  was  directly  between  him 
and  the  bear,  the  boys  riding  nearly  side  by  side,  and 
only  a  few  feet  apart.  All  the  while  they  were  draw- 
ing up  close  to  the  bear  ;  rather  closer,  as  Jack  thought, 
than  was  safe  ;  but  he  had  no  time  to  think  about  this. 
Suddenly,  Handsome  Face  drew  an  arrow  to  the  head 
and  shot,  and  almost  as  he  did  so,  the  bear  whirled 
and  charged  directly  toward  the  two  boys.  Handsome 
Face's  horse  turned  at  right  angles,  to  rush  away,  and 
striking  Pawnee  with  his  chest  just  behind  the  shoul- 
ders, knocked  him  off  his  feet,  so  that  he  fell  flat  on 


CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  A  BEAR.      281 

his  side.  As  the  horse  went  down,  Jack  jumped, 
aHghting  on  his  feet,  but  staggering  three  or  four  steps 
before  he  recovered  his  balance.  He  had  not  let  go 
his  gun.  He  turned  to  look  to  see  where  the  bear 
was,  and  as  he  did  so,  he  saw,  almost  upon  him,  a  huge 
mass  of  hair  and  gleaming  white  teeth,  flying  toward 
him.  He  had  no  time  to  think,  hardly  to  move.  He 
threw  up  his  gun,  fired,  tried  to  jump  back  out  of  the 
way,  but  his  heel  caught  ;  something  struck  him  a 
violent  blow,  and  he  knew  nothing  more. 

All  this  time,  Joe,  whose  horse  was  slower,  had  fallen 
behind  the  others,  whipping  and  kicking  with  his  heels, 
trying  to  keep  up.  The  charge  of  the  bear  at  right 
angles  to  her  course,  had  enabled  him  to  gain  quite  a 
little  bit,  so  that  when  the  beast  threw  itself  on  Jack,  he 
was  but  a  few  yards  off.  He  flung  himself  to  the 
ground,  and  rushing  up  close  to  the  side  of  the  bear, 
shot  arrow  after  arrow  into  its  heart,  until  all  his  shafts 
were  gone.  It  did  not  leave  its  prey,  and  throwing 
away  his  bow,  he  drew  his  knife,  sprang  upon  the  bear 
and  thrust  the  blade  again  and  again  into  its  body  be- 
hind the  shoulder.  Still  it  did  not  move  ;  there  was 
no  response,  not  even  a  quiver  of  the  muscle,  and  sud- 
denly Joe  realised  that  the  bear  was  dead.  He  sprang 
to  its  head  and  catching  the  beast  by  its  great  ears, 
dragged  its  head  off  Jack's  face  and  breast  and  called 
aloud  to  Handsome  Face,  who  by  this  time  had  re- 
turned, '*  Hurry,  hurry,  let  us  help  him  if  we  can.'* 
The  boys  managed  to  drag  the  bear  off  Jack,  who  pre- 
sented a  shocking  spectacle.  His  head,  breast  and 
shoulders  were  covered  with  blood,  but  he  was  not 
quite  dead,  for  they  could  see  the  breath  from  his  nos- 


282  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

trils  bubbling  through  the  blood.  Pulling  him  up  a 
little  way  from  the  bear,  they  began  to  feel  of  him  to 
see  whether  he  was  hurt,  but  in  a  minute  they  both 
broke  down.  Joe  cried  bitterly,  saying,  "  Oh !  My 
friend,  my  friend.  I  have  lost  my  friend,'  while 
Handsome  Face  began  to  sing  a  very  melancholy  song. 
It  was  a  sad  time  for  both  boys. 

Suddenly,  as  they  were  crying,  Jack  sat  up  and  said, 
"What's  the  matter?  Oh!  I  know."  Both  Indian 
boys  sprang  to  their  feet  and  stared  at  him,  for  a 
moment,  and  then  Joe,  throwing  himself  on  his  knees 
behind  him,  put  his  arms  around  Jack,  gave  him  a 
great  hug.  "  Oh !  "  he  said,  "  you're  not  dead,  I 
thought  you  were  dead.  Are  you  hurt  ?  Did  the 
bear  strike  you  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Jack,  "  I  guess  there's  nothing  the  matter 
with  me,  except  that  I  feel  stupid  and  my  head 
aches." 

Joe  and  Handsome  Face  now  felt  Jack  all  over  and 
he  seemed  to  be  unhurt  anywhere  except  that  on  the 
back  of  his  head,  there  was  a  great  bruise  which  was 
bleeding  a  little.  The  blood,  on  his  head  and  breast, 
was  that  of  the  bear,  and  when  they  went  to  the  body 
and  looked  at  it,  they  found  that  by  the  merest 
accident  in  his  shooting,  Jack's  life  had  been  saved. 
The  ball  had  struck  the  bear  in  the  end  of  the  nose  and 
had  passed  up  through  the  air  passages  into  the  brain, 
causing  instant  death.  The  animal  had  been  so  close 
to  Jack  when  he  shot,  that  death  did  not  stop  her 
advance,  and  the  whole  weight  of  her  body  thrown 
against  Jack  had  knocked  him  violently  to  the  ground  ; 
his  head  had  struck  a  small  stone  and  the  blow  had 


CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  A  BEAR.      283 

cut  and  stunned  him.  Except  for  a  headache,  he  was 
as  well  as  he  had  ever  been. 

Jack,  for  a  little  while,  sat  on  the  ground  and  nursed 
his  aching  head,  while  Handsome  Face  and  Joe 
worked  at  the  be-ar,  taking  off  the  skin.  The  two 
were  very  merry,  and  chattered  and  sang.  Joe,  in  the 
exuberance  of  his  spirits,  made  fun  of  Jack  for  having 
been  thrown  off  his  horse  and  knocked  down  by  the 
bear,  and  altogether,  was  a  very  different  Joe  from  the 
one  who  had  been  sobbing  on  the  hillside  only  a 
few  minutes  before. 

Before  long  the  two  boys  had  the  bear  skinned,  and 
loaded  on  one  of  the  horses.  Then  Handsome  Face 
and  Joe  went  back  to  the  ridge  where  they  had  left 
the  deer,  put  them  on  the  horses  and  returning  to 
Jack,  the  party  started  for  the  village.  No  one 
seemed  to  know  what  had  become  of  the  two  bear 
cubs.  During  the  excitement  that  attended  the  chase 
of  the  mother,  the  little  fellows  had  disappeared. 
Handsome  Face  said  that  Pawnee  had  no  sooner 
struck  the  ground  than  he  had  bounded  to  his  feet 
again  and  had  done  this  so  quickly  that  he  had  got 
out  of  the  bear's  vv^ay. 

Just  as  they  reached  the  prairie,  they  heard  shouts 
behind  them,  and  looking  back,  saw  Bull  Calf  and  The 
Mink  galloping  toward  them,  each  with  a  load  behind 
him  on  his  horse.  When  they  came  up,  it  was  seen 
that  Bull  Calf  had  a  young  bear  and  The  Mink  a  deer 
and  when  their  stories  had  been  told  by  both  parties, 
it  was  learned  that  this  little  bear  had  run  over  the 
ridge  and  down  toward  the  Indian  boys  who  were 
coming  down  the  mountain,  and  they  had  chased  it 


284  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

and  killed  it  with  their  arrows.  Certainly,  this  had 
been  a  lucky  hunt  ;  four  deer  and  two  bears  for  five 
boys ! 

At  a  little  brook,  they  crossed  on  their  homeward 
way.  Jack  dismounted  and  washed  from  himself  as 
much  blood  of  the  bear  as  he  could,  and  after  that 
felt  much  more  comfortable,  so  that  before  camp  was 
reached,  though  his  head  still  ached  badly,  he  felt 
quite  like  himself  again. 

That  night,  in  the  lodge,  when  he  told  Hugh  the 
story  of  the  day,  the  old  man  found  fault  with  him  for 
carelessness  and  bad  judgment. 

"  You  hadn't  never  ought  to  ride  close  beside  any 
man  that's  trying  to  kill  on  horse-back.  If  it's 
buffalo  or  bear,  it's  all  the  same.  If  he  has  to  turn  off 
quick,  he'll  either  ride  into  you  or  right  ahead  of  you 
and  get  in  your  way.  Besides  that,  you  can't  shoot 
at  anything  if  a  man  is  between  you  and  the  game, 
and  yet  you're  riding  along  side  of  him  with  a  loaded 
gun,  likely  as  not  pointing  right  at  him,  and  if  you're 
anyway  careless,  you're  likely  to  pull  it  off  and  maybe 
kill  him.  There  ain't  no  game  that  it's  worth  taking 
them  risks  for.  Just  as  soon  as  you  found  that  your 
horse  was  not  good  enough  to  pass  the  boy's,  you 
ought  to  have  fell  behind  and  waited  ;  you  might 
know  that  that  bear  wouldn't  be  killed  by  an  arrow, 
and  that  your  chance  would  come.  Of  course,  there 
have  been  times  when  bears  have  been  killed  by 
arrows,  old  Pis'kun,  here,  killed  a  big  grizzly  once  that 
way,  but  a  thing  like  that  don't  happen  once  in  a  dog's 
age ;  that's  one  reason  why  Indians  are  so  afraid  of 
bears. 


CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  A  BEAR.      285 

"  In  the  old  times,  when  they  had  nothing  but 
arrows,  they  couldn't  kill  bears  at  all,  and  lots  of  men 
that  tried  it  got  killed  off.  It's  only  since  the  Indians 
got  some  good  guns,  that  they  have  killed  any  bears 
to  amount  to  anything." 

"Well,  Hugh,  I  see  now,  since  you  explained  It  to 
me,  that  I  was  pretty  stupid,  but  I  didn't  think  about 
any  of  these  things,"  said  Jack. 

"  No,  I  don't  reckon  you  did.  You  are  a  boy  of 
course,  and  boys  have  a  kind  of  habit  of  not  thinking, 
but  just  running  in  and  doing  things,  and  not  figuring 
on  what  may  happen  afterward.  I'm  mighty  glad  I 
wasn't  with  you,  for  I  reckon  if  I  had  been,  I'd  a  been 
scared  a  plenty." 

"  Well,  but  then,  if  you  had  been  with  us  I  guess  it 
wouldn't  have  happened.  You'd  probably  have  called 
out  to  me  and  I'd  have  likely  done  what  you  said." 

*'  Well,  yes,  maybe  so.  I'll  say  this  for  you,"  he 
went  on,  "  that  you've  got  a  lot  more  sense  than  most 

boys  I've  seen." 

"  I  ought  to  be  learning  something  with  all  the 
things  you  tell  me,  and  all  the  different  kinds  of 
trouble  I  keep  getting  Into  all  the  time." 

''  Well,  you  won't  have  much  chance  to  get  Into 
any  more  troubles,  because,  now  we  are  going  to  move 
back  to  the  Marias,  and  then  you  and  me,  and  maybe 
Joe  will  go  Into  Benton  and  tend  to  our  little  business 
there,  and  then  go  down  the  river." 

''Well,"  said  Jack,  '*  I'm  mighty  sorry  to  have  the 
summer  ended  ;  I  never  had  such  a  good  time  in  my 
life.  I  thought  last  year,  when  I  went  back,  that  I 
never  could  have  as  good  a  time  again,  but  this  is 
better." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

BAPTISTE   LAJEUNESSE. 

The  slow  return  of  the  village  to  the  Marias  River, 
and  their  journey  along  it  to  the  camp,  was  unevent- 
ful. Hugh  had  let  it  be  known  among  his  friends, 
that  on  reaching  this  camp  he  and  Jack  would  leave 
them,  and  the  evening  before  this  took  place,  a  great 
feast  was  given  by  the  head  chief.  Iron  Shirt,  to  which 
a  considerable  number  of  the  principal  men  of  the  vil- 
lage were  asked.  Out  of  compliment  to  Jack,  Joe 
and  Handsome  Face  were  invited,  and  it  was  between 
them  that  he  sat  on  the  right  of  the  chief  on  this 
great  occasion.  The  speeches  made  were  many,  and 
in  each  one  of  them  were  friendly  allusions  to  the  two 
white  men,  who  for  some  months  past  had  dwelt  in 
the  camp.  During  the  smoking  of  the  last  pipe,  Hugh 
stood  on  his  feet  and  made  a  speech  in  Piegan,  in 
which  he  acknowledged  all  the  kindness  that  they  had 
received.  Then,  as  they  had  previously  arranged,  the 
three  boys  got  up  and  went  about  the  circle,  putting 
down  before  each  one  of  the  guests  a  package  contain- 
ing some  present,  which  should  be  a  slight  memorial 
of  their  visit. 

The  making  up  of  these  bundles  had  occupied  Joe 
and  Jack  for  two  evenings,  and  they  contained  about 
all  the  trade  goods  that  they  had  brought  from  the 
South,  so  that  when  the  bundles  had  been  prepared, 


BAPTISTE  LAJEUNESSE.  287 

all  the  red  cloth,  the  beads,  the  tobacco  and  the  hand- 
kerchiefs were  gone,  and  of  all  the  property  that  they 
had  brought  into  the  camp,  there  remained  only  a  lit- 
tle food. 

The  next  morning,  long  before  they  were  up,  pres- 
ents from  different  people  in  the  camp  began  to  arrive 
at  the  lodge.  There  were  great  piles  of  buffalo  robes, 
beautiful  moccasins,  shirts  ornamented  with  beads  or 
porcupine  quills;  skins  and  furs  of  one  sort  and  an- 
other. More,  as  Hugh  said,  than  they  could  pack  on 
their  horses.  However,  they  made  up  their  bundles 
and  by  borrowing  a  couple  of  pack  horses  from  John 
Monroe,  managed  to  load  all  their  possessions,  and  set 
out  for  Benton.  The  flour  sack,  which  contained  the 
gold,  was  wrapped  in  a  bear  skin  and  placed  on  the 
bucking  dun,  under  a  great  pile  of  robes. 

Jack  had  arrayed  himself  in  a  suit  of  new  cloth- 
ing throughout.  A  beautiful  shirt  of  antelope  skin, 
heavily  fringed  and  ornamented  with  quills,  buckskin 
trousers,  bead  worked,  and  a  pair  of  handsomely  orna- 
mented buckskin  moccasins,  with  parfleche  soles. 
About  his  hat  was  a  strip  of  otter  fur.  His  knife 
sheath  was  a  large  one  of  Indian  make,  studded  with 
bright  brass  headed  nails,  and  from  a  buttonhole  of 
his  shirt  hung  the  gold  powder  charger  by  a  buckskin 
string. 

They  started  late,  and  it  was  night  when  they 
reached  Fort  Benton.  However,  Hugh  managed  to  find 
his  friend  who  owned  the  stable,  and  they  put  their 
possessions  in  it,  their  horses  into  the  corral,  and  slept 
on  the  fragrant  hay.  At  daylight  next  morning  they 
were  up,  and  after  a  time  had  breakfast.     Hugh  in- 


288  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

quired  when  the  bank  would  be  open,  and  learned 
that  this  would  not  be  for  three  or  four  hours  yet. 
He  told  the  boys,  therefore,  to  go  out  and  wander 
about  the  town  if  they  wanted  to,  and  said  that  he 
would  stay  with  their  property  in  the  stable,  until  the 
time  came  to  go  to  the  bank  with  the  gold. 

Joe's  childhood  having  been  spent  in  Benton,   he 
was  a   good  guide  for  the  town ;  yet  concerning  the 
old  fort  and  the  interior  of  the  trading  posts,  he  knew 
little    or    nothing.     For   some    time    they   wandered 
through  the  streets  and  down  along   the  river  bank, 
and  at  length  turned   about  to  return   to  the  stable. 
As  they  were  passing  along  the  street,  Jack  stopped 
before  the  window  of  a  saloon  to  look  at  a  mountain 
sheep's  head  with  immense  horns,  and  after  he  had 
looked  at  it  for  a  while,  and  spoken  with  Joe  of  its 
great  size,  he  turned  to  walk  away,  and  as  he  did  so, 
found  himself  standing   face  to  face  with  a  very  tall 
man,  whose  long  white   beard  reached   nearly  to  his 
waisto     The  stranger  was  not  only  very  tall,  but  very 
broad  as  well ;  but  seemed  thin,  almost  to  emaciation, 
yet   gave  one  the  idea  of  a  person  possessing  great 
strength.     He  was  neatly  dressed  in  buckskin,  which, 
though  not  new,  was  clean  and  in  good  condition,  and 
was  without  any  ornament  of  beads  or  quill  work.    As 
Jack  stepped  aside  to  avoid  the  old  man,  he  spoke  to 
him  in  a  low,  pleasant  voice,  and  said :  **  The  head  is 
large,  my  friend,  is  it  not?" 

"  Yes,  sir,*^  said  Jack,  "  it's  immense.  I  never  saw 
anything  so  big,  but  then  I  haven't  killed  many  sheep, 
in  fact,  I  have  only  seen  a  very  few." 

"You  are  young,"  said  the  stranger.     "You  have 


BAPTISTE  LAJEUNESSE.  289 

not  lived  long  enough  to  see  many  things.  Do  you 
belong  in  this  country  ?  " 

*'  No,"  said  Jack,  "  I  come  from  back  in  the  States. 
I  am  just  out  here  for  a  little  while,  and  have  been 
living  this  summer  with  the  Indians  up  north." 

*•  You  are  a  long  way  from  home.  How  do  you 
come  to  be  here?"  said  the  man.  "Young  boys  do 
not  usually  travel  that  great  distance  alone." 

"Oh,"  said  Jack,  ''I  came  with  a  friend,  Mr.  Hugh 
Johnson,  maybe  you've  heard  of  him.  He's  been  a 
long  time  in  the  country,  more  than  forty  years."  The 
man  seemed  to  ponder. 

"  Many  years  ago  I  knew  a  man  so  called  ;  those 
were  in  the  trapping  days.  We  used  to  call  him  then, 
Casse-tete,  because,  once  with  a  stone,  he  smashed  the 
head  of  a  wounded  cow  that  was  charging  him.  He 
had  a  strong  arm  and  good  luck."  Jack  was  inter- 
ested, and  wondered  if  it  were  Hugh  who  had  done 
this.  He  would  have  liked  to  ask  more  questions, 
but  by  the  clock  in  the  saloon,  he  saw  that  it  was  time 
to  meet  Hugh,  and  he  thought,  perhaps,  that  he 
could  find  this  old  man  again,  later,  and  talk  to  him, 
so  he  took  off  his  hat  politely  and  said  good  morning, 
and  started  to  go  on.  But  as  he  moved,  the  old  man 
touched  him  on  the  shoulder  and  said  :  "  Wait,  friend  ; 
you  have  there,"  pointing  to  Jack's  breast,  "property 
that  I  lost  long  ago.  Where  did  you  get  it  ?  If  you 
look  at  it,  you  will  find  scratched  in  the  metal,  my 
initials,  '  B.  L. '  " 

For  a  moment,  Jack  was  almost  dumb  with  aston- 
ishment, and  then  he  said  ;  "  Are  you  Baptiste  La- 
jeunesse?  " 


290  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  That  is  my  name,"  said  the  old  man,  *'  where  have 
you  heard  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Lajeunesse,  wait  until  we  find  Hugh,  then 
we  must  have  a  long  talk  with  you.  Were  you 
chased  by  Indians  once,  long  ago  south  of  the 
Bear  Paw  Mountains?  And  did  you  lose  a  mule 
there  ?  " 

The  old  man  smiled  rather  sadly,  and  said :  "  Truly, 
my  son,  I  was  chased  there,  and  I  did  lose  a  mule  and 
many  other  valuable  things  which  I  have  never  been 
able  to  find.  But  one  of  them  I  see  now  on  your 
breast." 

Jack  quickly  untied  the  powder  charger  and  offered 
it  to  Baptiste  who  waved  it  away.  Then  Jack  asked 
him  :  "  Where  can  we  find  you  in  an  hour  or  two  ? 
We  will  come  back  here  with  Hugh,  I'm  almost  sure 
that  he  is  the  man  that  you  call  Casse-tete." 

"  I'll  be  near  here  all  the  day,"  said  Baptiste,  "  and 
if  I'm  not  in  sight,  the  man  in  the  saloon  can  tell  you 
where  I  have  gone."  Without  a  word  more,  Jack  and 
Joe  started  on  a  run  toward  the  stable. 

When  they  reached  the  stable,  there  was  no  one 
there,  but  a  man  loitering  in  the  street  near  by,  told 
them  that  he  had  seen  "  their  partner"  going  up  the 
street  a  little  while  before,  with  a  sack  of  flour  on  his 
shoulder.  At  once,  Joe  led  the  way  to  the  bank 
nearby,  and  entering  it,  they  could  see,  behind  the 
counter,  Hugh  and  another  man,  in  earnest  conversa- 
tion. As  soon  as  Hugh  saw  them  he  introduced  them 
to  Mr.  Finley,  the  manager  of  the  bank,  as  his  two 
partners.  Hugh  had  already  taken  out  the  gold.  It 
had  been  examined  and  weighed,  and   three    drafts. 


BAPTISTE  LAJEUNESSE.  291 

each  for  $2,520.00  were  now  being  made   out,  one   to 
the  order  of  each  of  the  three. 

Hugh  told  Jack  that  a  few  miles  below  the  town, 
there  was  a  steam-boat  loading,  on  which  they  could 
get  passage  for  Bismarck,  and  that  he  had  made  ar- 
rangements to  have  all  their  baggage  hauled  down  to 
it. 

"  I  reckon,  we'll  leave  all  the  horses,  except  maybe 
Pawnee  and  your  new  horse,  up  here  in  charge  of  Joe. 
We  can  trust  him  to  look  after  them  carefully,  and  I 
reckon  it's  more  than  likely,  that  you  may  come  back 
here  again  next  season  ;  and  if  you  do,  it  will  be  a  lot 
shorter  for  you  to  come  direct  and  find  your  horses 
here,  rather  than  to  go  to  the  ranch  and  have  to  ride 
up  across  country.     That  takes  a  lot  of  time. 

"  Of  course,  if  you  want  to,  you  can  leave  all  the 
horses  here,  we  won't  need  them  going  down.  And 
now,  I  reckon,"  he  added,  ''  we'll  go  out  and  buy 
some  things.  We'll  stop  in  again  to  shake  hands  with 
you,  Mr.  Finley,  before  we  quit  the  town." 

They  were  scarcely  outside  the  door,  when  Jack,  who 
in  his  excitement,  had  hardly  been  able  to  keep  quiet, 
exclaimed,  *'  Oh  !  Hugh,  we've  found  Baptiste  Lajeu- 
nesse." 

"  Sho,"  said  Hugh,  "  you  don't  mean  it." 

"  Yes  we  have.  He  saw  the  powder  charger  and  be- 
fore looking  at  it,  said  it  was  his  and  that  he  had  lost 
it  a  long  time,  and  that  it  had  his  initials  on  it.  He 
had  not  told  us  what  his  name  was,  and  I  asked  if 
he  was  Baptiste  Lajeunesse,  and  he  said  yes.  Let's 
go  and  see  him  and  find  out  all  about  what  happened 
when  he  lost  the  powder  charger;  and  oh  !  Hugh,"  he 


292  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

said,  his  face  falling,  "  suppose  that  gold  belongs   to 

him." 

''  Well,  son,"  said  Hugh,  "  if  it's  Bat,  and  he  lost  the 
powder  charger  and  he  lost  the  gold  too,  we  are  all 
just  as  poor  as  we  were  before  you  found  it." 

''  Oh  !  "  said  Jack,  **  won't  that  be  a  shame,  when  we 
have  been  thinking  that  we  were  all  so  rich,  and  when 
Joe  needs  so  many  things,  and  you  and  me  too, 
Hugh." 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  with  a  comical  look  of  disap- 
pointment on  his  face,  *'  I  guess  we  all  think  we  need 
lots  of  things  that  we  haven't  got,  but  somehow  or 
other,  if  we  can't  have  *em,  we  manage  to  just  live  along 
in  about  the  same  way,  and  I  don't  know  as  it  makes 
much  difference,  but  I  would  like  to  see  Joe  with  a 
good  gun  and  I  reckon  we'll  have  to  try  to  get  him 
one  somehow,  whether  we  have  the  gold  or  not." 


CHAPTER  XXVIIL 

THE   LOST   GOLD. 

It  was  but  a  short  walk  to  the  place  where  Jack  had 
left  the  stranger,  and  in  a  few  moments  they  saw  him 
sitting  in  front  of  the  door.  Hugh  stopped  in  front  of 
him,  looked  at  him  closely  and  said  :  *'  Well,  Bat,  how 
are  you  ?" 

"  All  right  Casse-tete.     And  you  ?  " 

"  It's  a  long  time  since  you  lost  your  charger, 
friend,"  said  Hugh. 

**  Ah,  yes,"  said  Baptiste,  "  I  never  shall  have  an- 
other one  as  good.  The  one  you  saw  me  make  and 
that  the  boy  has  on  his  shirt,  was  good  for  nothing. 
I  have  had  no  luck  since  I  lost  the  old  one.  At  first 
things  went  well,  and  I  thought  I  should  be  rich,  but 
soon  trouble  came,  and  has  been  coming  ever  since." 

''How  did  you  lose  the  charger  ?"  said  Hugh. 

"  That  morning  when  I  left  the  fort,  I  went  north  to 
the  big  lakes  and  trapped  along  them,  and  one  day,  on 
one  of  the  little  streams,  I  found  a  piece  of  gold  ;  a 
small  piece  as  large  as  my  finger  nail.  I  began 
to  look  for  more,  and  to  wash  the  bars,  and 
there,  for  a  little  while  and  in  one  place,  I  found 
much  gold.  I  stayed  there  until  my  grub  gave 
out  and  my  ammunition  too,  for  in  crossing  a  stream 
my    animal  fell  and  wet  my   powder.       I  started    to 


294  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

come  in  for  supplies,  and  one  day,  as  I  was  travelling 
along,  the  Indians  jumped  me  and  I  had  to  run. 
They  had  cut  me  off  from  the  fort,  and  I  ran  east  keep- 
ing ahead  of  them  during  the  day,  but  at  night  they 
would  catch  up.  At  last,  when  I  was  southeast  of 
the  Bear  Paws,  my  horses  were  getting  tired  and  the 
Indians  came  so  close  to  me,  that  they  began  to  shoot. 
I  had  but  a  few  charges  left  in  my  horn,  and  couldn't 
fight.  Finally,  they  came  so  close  that  they  killed  my 
pack  animal,  and  an  arrow  went  through  my  shoulder. 
One  or  two  of  them  had  guns  and  kept  shooting  at 
me,  but  they  did  not  hit  me ;  they  crowded  me  though, 
and  now  I  had  to  run  to  the  river  to  hid  in  the  breaks, 
where  I  could  slip  away  on  foot  without  being 
trailed. 

"  This  I  did,  but  when  I  got  in  among  the  niativaiscs 
terreSy  the  Indians  stopped  behind,  and  then  I  found 
that  my  gold,  which  I  had  been  running  to  save,  was 
gone.  I  had  had  it  on  my  saddle,  and  a  ball  had  cut  the 
strings  and  it  had  dropped  off;  also  my  horse  had  been 
wounded  and  could  travel  no  more,  and  I  was  bleed- 
ing and  growing  weak.  Along  the  shore  I  found  a 
drift  log,  and  that  night,  tying  my  gun  to  it,  I  pushed 
it  off  into  the  deep  water  and  got  on  it,  and  floated 
down  the  stream. 

"  That  was  the  last  I  knew  for  a  long  time.  When 
I  next  had  sense,  I  was  in  the  camp  of  two  trappers 
at  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  they  call  *  Judith.'  They 
told  me,  that  one  day,  weeks  before,  they  had  seen 
something  queer  coming  down  the  stream,  and  at 
length,  saw  that  it  was  a  man  on  a  log ;  one  of  the  men 
swam  out  with  a  rope  and  brought  the    stick  to    shore, 


THE  LOST  GOLD.  295 

and  me  with  it.  But  they  said  I  was  crazy.  They 
said,  too,  that  I  had  many  wounds  that  I  had  not 
known  of  and  one  of  them  was  a  cut  on  the  head 
where  a  ball  had  glanced. 

''  Since  that  time  my  mind  is  no  longer  good.  Some- 
times, for  a  long  time,  I  don't  know  anything.  Some- 
times I  can't  remember  the  things  that  happened  yes- 
terday, but  the  old  things,  those  that  happened  before 
that  time,  I  remember  well  \  and  so  it  is,  Casse-tete, 
that  I  know  you,  even  if  your  hair  is  white  ;  but  I  have 
always  thought  of  you  as  young  and  strong  and  a 
breaker-in  of  bulls'  heads  ;  "  and  the  old  man  laughed 
pleasantly. 

Jack  and  Joe  did  not  understand  everything  of  what 
was  said,  but  Hugh,  as  he  listened  to  this  story,  seemed 
to  become  very  grave  and  sad. 

"  And  what  do  you  do  now,  Baptiste  ?  "  he  asked. 
"  We  no  longer  trap  beaver.     How  do  you  live  ?  " 

*'  Sometimes  I  ask  myself  that  question,  friend," 
Baptiste  replied,  **  and  I  do  not  always  know  how  to 
answer  it.  In  the  summer,  when  the  boats  are  loading, 
sometimes  I  help  to  pack  the  robes.  Sometimes,  when 
the  furs  are  brought  in,  they  get  me  to  come  and  help 
them  look  at  them  and  say  what  they  are  worth  ;  in 
that  way  I  earn  a  little  money,  and  my  friend  here, 
who  owns  this  house,  is  kind  to  me.  I  sleep  here  al- 
ways and  sometimes  when  he  goes  away,  I  stay  and 
answer  questions  for  him." 

"  Friend,"  said  Hugh,  "when  these  Indians  were 
chasing  you,  and  when  at  last  you  turned  to  the  river, 
did  you  have  your  charger  with  you  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Baptiste,  *'  I  did  not  know  it 


296  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

was  lost  until  I  got  well  in  the  camp  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Judith  ;  then  I  saw  it  was  gone." 

"  And  do  you  know  when  you  lost  your  gold  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Baptiste.  "  When  my  mule 
fell,  and  I  turned  to  run  straight  for  the  river,  the  gold 
was  still  on  my  saddle  ;  before  I  got  to  the  edge  of 
the  breaks,  a  bullet  struck  the  horse,  or  the  saddle, 
and  when  I  stopped  near  the  river  the  gold  was  gone. 
I  can  tell  you  no  more  than  that." 

"  But,  Bat,"  said  Hugh,  "did  you  never  go  back 
there  to  look  for  it  ?  " 

"  I  went  back,"  said  Lajeunesse,  "  but  I  could  never 
find  the  place.  When  I  got  near  it,  things  were  always 
confused  in  my  mind  and  I  could  see  nothing  that  I 
knew  again,  although  I  had  travelled  over  the  country 
many  times,  and  knew  it  well." 

"  Listen  to  me,  friend,"  said  Hugh.  "  Not  long  ago, 
these  two  young  men  and  I  were  down  in  that  same 
country.  We  found,  close  together,  a  mule  that  had 
been  killed  long  ago  with  an  arrow,  this  charger," 
touching  the  gold  on  Jack's  breast,  "  and  an  old  buck- 
skin sack  full  of  gold.  It  may  be  that  these  things 
were  yours." 

"  That  is  curious,"  said  Lajeunesse.  *'  The  charger 
was  mine  for  I  know  it  well,  perhaps  the  mule  also 
was  mine,  but  about  the  gold,  who  can  tell.  Perhaps 
it  was  mine,  perhaps  another's." 

"  Oh  !  Hugh,"  burst  out  Jack,  unable  longer  to  con- 
tain himself.  But  Hugh  raised  his  hand  for  silence, 
and  Jack  stopped,  though  he  was  eager  to  try  to  prove 
to  Lajeunesse  that  the  gold  was  his,  and  that  none  of 
them  had,  or  wished  to  have,  any  claim  on  it. 


THE  LOST  GOLD.  297 

"As  you  say,"  said  Hugh,  "the  gold  may  have  be- 
longed to  any  one  ;  gold  dust  is  much  alike  and  a  buck- 
skin sack  in  the  course  of  years,  rots  and  disappears. 
Yet,  after  all,  it  seems  likely  that  this  may  have  been 
yours,  since  it  was  found  near  other  things  that  were 
yours,  and  since  you  lost  your  gold  at  that  place." 

"  Truly,"  said  Lajeunesse,  "  it  may  have  been  mine, 
but  it  was  lost  long  ago  and  could  not  be  found,  and 
now  if  you  men  have  found  it,  it  is  yours." 

"  That  is  what  we  must  now  determine  ;  "  said  Hugh. 
"  We  are  here  together,  four  persons,  the  only  four, 
so  far  as  we  can  tell,  that  know  anything  of  this  gold, 
or  have  a  claim  to  it.  Suppose,  now,  that  we  four 
were  to  decide  that  the  gold  belonged  to  you,  what 
would  you  do  with  it  ?  " 

"  Truly,"  said  Baptiste,  "  if  it  belonged  to  me,  I 
should  not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  I  think  I  should 
give  it  to  some  one  to  take  care  of  for  me,  for  since  my 
head  has  been  bad,  I  might  lose  it  or  forget  where  I 
had  put  it,  and  then  it  would  do  me  no  good.  If  it 
belonged  to  you,  Casse-tete,  what  would  you  do  with 
it?" 

"Well,  Bat,  I'm  good  deal  like  you,  I  don't  know 
what  I  would  do  with  it.  I  never  had  much  money, 
not  more  than  enough  to  buy  supplies  and  have  a 
good  time,  and  this  is  more  than  one  would  need  for 
that."  Hugh  stopped  speaking,  and  thought  for  a 
little  while  and  then  said:  "  I'll  tell  you  what  I  think 
would  be  fair :  Suppose  we  divide  this  gold  in  two 
parts,  and  you  take  one  part  and  the  two  boys  will 
take  the  other  ;  then  we'll  put  yours  in  the  bank  and 
they  will  hire  it  of  you  and  pay  you  rent  for  it  as  long 


298  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

as  they  keep  it.  I  think  they  ought  to  pay  you, 
maybe  forty  or  fifty  dollars  a  month.  If  they'd  pay 
you  as  much  as  that  and  gave  it  to  you  every  month, 
you'd  get  along  all  right,  wouldn't  you  ?  " 

"  Indeed,  Casse-tete,  I  should  think  that  I  were  rich 
if  I  had  so  much  money  as  that  every  month,  but  you 
see  this  gold  is  not  mine,  even  if  it  is  the  same  gold 
that  I  lost ;  it  has  stopped  being  mine  when  I  lost  it. 
If  I  had  lost  gold  pieces  on  the  prairie  and  you  had 
found  them,  they  would  be  yours,  and  so  it  is  with 
this  dust.  Why,  then,  should  you  make  me  a  present 
of  one  half  of  it  ?  " 

"  Partly  because  I  feel  sure  you  lost  it,"  said  Hugh, 
"  and  partly  on  account  of  old  times  ;  and  partly  be- 
cause you  now  have  nothing,  though  twenty-five  years 
ago,  there  was  no  man  on  the  prairie  that  was  richer 
than  Baptiste  Lajeunesse." 

"  Truly,"  said  Baptiste,  "  it  is  pleasant  to  think  of 
the  old  times,  and  to  meet  one  who  remembers  them. 
I  have  thought  of  you  many  times,  Casse-tete,  since  I 
saw  you  last,  and  I  am  glad  that  we  meet  againo  But 
what  about  these  young  men  ?  "  he  said.  "  They  partly 
own  this  gold,  what  do  they  say  about  giving  it 
away  ?  " 

''Why,"  said  Jack,  **  I  say  you  ought  to  have  it  all- 
and  not  half  of  it,  as  Hugh  says."  Joe  said  nothing, 
but  smiled  as  if  he  agreed  with  Jack„ 

"  Now,"  said  Hugh,  as  he  rose,  ''that  gold  was  left 
at  the  bank  ;  I'll  go  up  there  and  see  that  it  is  divided 
in  two  parts,  and  we'll  find  out  what  the  people  there 
will  pay  you  for  the  use  of  yours,  then  I  will  come 
back  here  and  let  you  know."  Lajeunesse  waved 
his  hand,  and  they  went  out. 


THE  LOST  GOLD.  299 

On  the  way  to  the   bank,  Jack   said,  "  But,  Hugh, 
why  didn't  you  make  him  take  all  the  gold  ?  " 

"Well,  son,"  said  Hugh,  "you  see,  he  had  lost  it 
for  good  and  he  never  would  have  heard  of  it  again  if 
you  boys  hadn't  found  it,  and  we  hadn't  brought  it 
in.  I  think  that  luck  and  that  work  entitles  us  to 
half  of  it,  but  there  is  another  thing  more  important 
than  that.  You  see,  the  old  man  has  partly  lost  his 
mind,  he  isn't  fit  to  take  care  of  any  property,  and  if 
we  would  give  him  that  sack  of  gold,  it  would  be  just 
as  he  says  ;  he'd  leave  it  lying  out  on  the  sidewalk 
some  time,  and  somebody  would  pick  it  up  and  walk 
off  with  it,  or  he  would  put  it  down  somewhere  and 
forget  where  he  left  it,  or  he'd  give  it  away.  It 
wouldn't  do  him  no  good  nor  us  neither.  What  I'm 
going  to  do  is  this,  if  you  boys  agree  ;  I'm  going  to 
deposit  half  these  drafts  that  we  got  for  the  gold  to 
your  credit  but  we'll  see  that  the  interest  is  paid  to 
him  every  month.  Then  as  long  as  he  stays  here, 
he'll  have  a  living  and  yet  he  won't  be  able  to  spend 
the  principal.  Then  if  ever  he  dies  the  money  will 
be  here  to  the  credit  of  you  two  boys,  one  half  to 
each." 

"Well,  but,"  said  Jack,  "suppose  he's  got  any 
children  or  a  wife  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh,  "  he  ain't  got  neither,  without 
he's  married  since  I  knew  him  and  that  ain't  noways 
likely.     But  we  can  find  out  about  that  anyhow." 

When  they  reached  the  bank,  Hugh  explained  the 
matter  in  detail  to  the  manager,  who  was  an  old  resi- 
dent of  Fort  Benton  and  knew  Lajeunesse  well.  One 
half  the  money  was  deposited   in  the   name  of  Jack 


300  JACK  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

and  Joe  as  joint  owners,  the  interest  to  be  paid  monthly 
at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  quarter  per  cent,  per  month 
to  Lajeunesse.  This  would  give  him  nearly  $50 
a  month.  Returning  to  Baptiste,  they  told  him 
what  had  been  done,  and  while  he  and  Hugh  were 
talking  it  over,  Jack  untied  from  his  shirt  the  gold 
charger  and  when  the  opportunity  came,  offered  it  to 
the  old  man. 

''There  can't  be  any  doubt,"  he  said,  "Mr.  Lajeu- 
nesse, that  this  is  yours,  for  it  is  marked  with  your 
name  and  you  should  take  it."  The  old  man  smiled 
kindly  as  he  took  it  in  his  hand  and  looked  at  it 
thoughtfully,  then  he  handed  it  back  and  said,  '*  No, 
my  friend,  in  these  days  I  don't  use  such  things,  and 
besides,  it  brought  me  bad  luck.  If  you  like  it,  keep 
it  always  to  remember  a  man  to  whom  you  were  kind. 
I  shall  think  of  you,  Casse-tete,  and  of  your  boys, 
many  times  from  this  on.  Every  month  I  shall  have 
a  good  reminder  of  you." 

They  sat  all  day  chatting  together,  Hugh  and 
Baptiste  doing  most  of  the  talking,  though  sometimes 
they  addressed  the  boys.  About  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,  Hugh  rose,  and  shaking  hands  with  Bap- 
tiste, said  that  it  was  time  to  go.  The  two  old 
friends  walked  slowly  toward  the  stable,  while  the 
boys  ran  ahead  and  found  a  wagon  hitched  up  and 
their  property  partly  loaded  in  it.  It  was  arranged 
that  all  the  horses  should  be  left  in  Joe's  care,  to  be 
kept  in  the  Piegan  camp,  and  that  Hugh  or  Jack 
would  write  him,  to  say  what  should  be  done  with  the 
stock;  if  he  heard  nothing  from  them,  he  was  to 
keep   the   animals  until  next    summer,  when    it  was 


THE  LOST  GOLD.  301 

hoped  Jack  and  Hugh  would  again  go  to  the  Piegan 
camp. 

The  ride  down  to  the  point  where  the  steamboat 
was  tied  up  was  rather  a  melancholy  one.  Jack  and 
Joe  sat  together  on  the  back  seat  not  saying  much, 
but  holding  fast  each  other's  hands.  When  the  boat 
was  reached,  all  were  busy  for  a  little  while  transfer- 
ring the  goods  to  the  deck  and  then  the  captain  came 
to  Hugh  and  said,  ''  Well,  you  got  here  just  in  time ; 
there's  a  little  more  water  coming  down  to-day,  and 
I'm  going  to  start  now  juet  as  soon  as  we  can  cast  off 
the  lines." 

''Well,  Joe,"  said  Jack,  "  Fm  awful  sorry  to  go,  I've 
had  the  best  time  I  ever  had  in  my  life,  and  a  good  part 
has  been  owing  to  you.  I'll  never  forget  you  nor 
the  Piegans,  and  if  I  possibly  can,  I'll  come  back  again 
next  summer." 

"  Good-bye,  my  friend,"  said  Joe,  *'  I  wish  I  were 
going  with  you,  I  hate  to  have  you  leave  me.  I  feel 
like  crying.     Come  back  next  year  if  you  can." 

**  Hurry  up,"  said  Hugh,  from  the  deck  of  the  ves- 
sel, "  they're  casting  off  the  lines." 

Jack  turned  and  ran  over  the  gang  plank  and  stood 
beside  Hugh,  and  as  the  vessel  passed  out  into  the 
stream  and  slowly  moved  around  the  point,  the  last 
things  that  he  saw  were  the  tall  figure  of  the  old  trap- 
per and  the  slender  one  of  the  Indian  boy,  standing 
side  by  side  with  their  backs  toward  the  sinking  sun. 

END. 


-.i=--y,-.:.;.,?\:^r. 


14  DAY  USE 

RSTURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 
Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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